Marvel Vs Capcom Vs Kirby
by Roxius
Summary: After discovering his fellow smashers brutally murdered by the MvC organization, Kirby asks the help of two other fighters in his battle to avenge his friends and take the lives of their killers. However, it turns out that there are other dark secrets hidden by the group's leading members. Fighting game crossover fic. Slight parody.
1. The Tragedy

In a certain bar on a certain planet within a certain universe, a certain group was certainly celebrating.

They had just come back from a long and bloody battle deep inside the enemy's headquarters, a rival group that had been a thorn in their side for decades. Through the execution of a secretly-planned sneak attack, they had been able to wipe out all of their opponents with relative ease; not a single one of the poor bastards were left alive. This group, the victorious one mind you, were known as the MvC. Long ago, they once ruled the streets, at their strongest with 56 members. However, many of their older members soon left, and a newcomer took down the weakened team. That newcomer became a powerful threat, their long-hated enemy. But now, with their revenge fully realized, MvC had the chance to rise again.

"Cheers!"

The sound of glasses clinking together resonated throughout the bar. A colorful cast sat at an over-sized round table. They were all laughing boisterously regarding their success. Their laughter was secretly hollow, for all emotions within them aside from hatred, lust and avarice had been wiped away long ago. They knew nothing about what it was to feel like human beings. They simply followed orders and executed them with precision. This was especially true for the older members; from the moment of joining, their souls were gradually whittled away, leaving their bodies as empty husks in a meaningless existence.

Frank West took a drink. "Ha ha...nothing really soothes the body like a cold one after kicking ass! Right, Nemesis?"

The grotesque monster known as Nemesis growled in response. Despite one being a zombie-killer and the other a zombie, they were still able to put their differences aside and get along for the sake of MvC.

"It wasn't even a big deal, really," Morrigan chirped, smiling just enough to show her front teeth, "After all, we were simply crushing an ant hill underneath our boots." Hsien-ko, Felicia and Trish all bobbed their heads in agreement.

"I dunno...while it felt good to avenge ourselves, I still was hoping for more of a real fight," Ryu spoke up. Asleep on the floor beside his chair was his trusted attack-dog, Amaterasu. The sleek, white dog had a bone in its mouth, courtesy of one of their victims. The street fighter's eyes calmly drifted over the people sitting across from him; The Incredible Hulk and M.O.D.O.K. were playing cards, Chris Redfield was smoking through an entire pack of cigarettes, and Crimson Viper appeared to be whispering sweet nothings into her lover Chun-Li's ear. Business as usual, he thought.

"The way that that little thing choked out a screech before I snapped its neck...a sweet sound indeed..." Doctor Doom mused with an insidious little chuckle afterward.

"What does it matter if they put up a good fight or not?" She-Hulk asked, stroking Wolverine's hair, "Honestly, I'd much rather have an easy fight than a hard one. That girl with the blaster guns could have easily killed me if I hadn't been careful!"

"Geez...I would have faced that thing head-on..."

"Shut up, Ryu! You're always trying to talk tough, but which one of us actually went to law school, hmm?"

"Law school has nothing to do with this!"

Ryu's drink suddenly burst in an explosion of alcohol and shattered glass, drenching the street fighter completely. Dante, who had been sitting off on his lonesome before now, lowered the still-smoking barrel of his gun. The white-haired demon hunter let out a laugh.

"It's not polite to yell at women, ya know?"

"Bastard..." Ryu grumbled, but he dared not try to fight back with someone like Dante.

As all of this incessant commotion played out around him, Wesker's attention was transfixed solely on the photos in his hands. It was personal photographs he had taken of the corpses they left in their wake. So much blood and gore fascinated him beyond measure. However, he couldn't help but feel a nagging at the back of his skull. He felt as if, in the process of their rampage, they had forgotten something, or someone, very important. He was positive that they hadn't killed everyone in their rival gang, but he had forgone telling the others. It wasn't like one person could fight against all of them. But still...

'Who could it be?'

Kirby stood in the doorway of the Smash Mansion, still as stone. The cold winds behind him raged without effort against his back, yet it still did not freeze him down to the very core like what he was seeing did. The happy-go-lucky attitude of the Pop0star hero had been decimated in an instant. Even though the main hall was covered with thick shadows, and the darkness flowed across the floor, Kirby could still make out the scene before him. For a moment, he couldn't believe it. It was too difficult to believe, and for good reason.

Lying before him were the bodies of the other Smashers, unmoving, drenched in pools of their own blood.

"Ah..."

Donkey Kong was riddled with bullet holes, Lucario's arms and legs were torn apart, Link was gutted and stabbed through the neck with his own sword, Ness's neck was snapped, Samus' beautiful face had been smashed to bloody pieces, Peach was lying in a heap with her dress torn off, ROB was disassembled, Mario's body ripped clean in half, Olimar's space helmet was cracked open, and all that was left identifiable of poor Diddy Kong was his tail. These were only a few of the unbelievably horrific images facing Kirby at that moment. The stench of so many dead bodies was practically overwhelming. The pink puffball didn't know what to do; he had just gone home to his planet Pop Star for a few hours, and yet this is what he came back to. Even in his many years as a battle-hardened veteran had he never seen such carnage.

"Oh!"

Kirby stepped back. He couldn't bring himself to go in. He knew immediately that he would just find more bodies if he went further inside. Looking through the doorway right now was like staring into to the vast and dark abyss. Kirby hid his eyes behind his stubby hands and wailed. It was the sad, lonely wail of someone who had nothing left in the world. He knew that his friends had been brutalized on purpose before being killed; the damage to their bodies was a clear indicator of that. Kirby could barely imagine just what pain they had suffered. It made him wail harder.

Suddenly, Kirby heard a wet thump beside him. He looked, and saw Fox McCloud, still alive, yet he was missing both an eye and part of his arm, soaked to the bone in his own blood. The rest of his injuries were likely internal. It didn't look like he would survive for much longer. It was probably taking the very limits of his will to stay alive despite the intense agony. Where had he even come from, to appear so spontaneously?

"Kirby..." The fox spoke in a hoarse whisper.

Kirby sniffled. He still couldn't believe what he was seeing. Noticing his friend's bewildered expression, the dying fox simply chuckled under his breath.

"Sorry to surprise you like that. I...I'm not going to live much longer...hell, I'm amazed I'm still alive right now..."

Kirby sniffled again.

"Look...I didn't want to scare you, but...we can't just..." Fox coughed, spitting up more blood, "We can't just let this slide..."

Kirby didn't know what to say, not that he could say much anyway. However, he did agree that he had to get revenge. Revenge for his friends.

"The bastards responsible for this...I overheard them talking about going to a bar...it shouldn't be too hard...to find them...they really stand out..."

Kirby nodded several times, and Fox smiled, his lips and teeth bleached red. "Thanks...I knew I could count on you..."

With those last words, Fox slumped forward and fell face-first into the dirt. He ceased to move. The rain began to fall. The quiet pitter-patter of the rain was all Kirby could hear now. Even though he felt that familiar stinging in his eyes, Kirby knew he couldn't dare waste time crying. He had to do something for the sake of these dead people. Fox had entrusted him with this important mission. Avenging them was the least he could do to repay the smashers for everything they had done for him. For a little alien like Kirby, they were something close to family.

Kirby took out a cellphone he had received from his former enemy King Dedede long ago. Even though Kirby couldn't speak, he still kept it on him at all times. There were a few people who seemed to understand his language, he discovered, and fortunately they were all very strong. In this case, they were his last hope.

He tapped his finger-less hand on a button, and made the call.

"Yeah? Hello? Oh, it's you. Been a while, huh? What do you want? ...What? Seriously? Holy crap, that's -stop biting me like I'm some kind of snack, you stupid cat-girl- that's really bad! All of them? Damn...what a way to do. Huh? You need my help with something? Well, I do owe you alot, so I guess I can. I'll be there in a bit, and I'll bring Kazuya along too. He's kind of a prick, and he lives far away, but give me a few hours and I'll drag him over...goddammit! Taokaka, give me back my coat!"

Kirby snapped the phone shut and put it away. There was one last thing he had to do now. His normal powers alone wouldn't be enough to defeat the upcoming foes. Solemnly, he turned to the bodies of his friends...and he opened his mouth...


	2. The Assault 1

It was still raining by the time that Kirby and his two allies arrived at the bar. It hadn't been very difficult to find the MvC; it wasn't exactly easy for passerby who saw them to forget such a colorful-looking cast of characters. Flanking either of Kirby's sides were the two men who he knew he could trust on in such dire times. They were also both men who owed him a huge debt for his aid in the past, and this was their way of repaying him.

Ragna the Bloodedge struggled to protect himself from the downpour with a newspaper, but to no avail. "Dammit! I just got all of the cat slobber out of this jacket, and now it has to get wet again! Couldn't you have waited for it to be a sunny day or something before you went on your roaring rampage of revenge?"

Kirby looked up at him, glaring. Ragna rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I'm sorry, okay? Stop looking at me with those beady little eyes."

"Hmph. You think it's bad for you?" Kazuya Mishima snapped, "I had to step out of a very important board meeting just for this."

"Hard to believe that you're so desperate to repay this puffball that you'd leave your own company hanging,"

"It hurts my pride that I owe the current status of my company and my very well-being to this bizarre little thing; the sooner I can cut ties with him once and for all, the better! I'll have his cell phone number blocked soon after."

"I hear that, brother." Ragna grumbled. Kirby did not seem fazed at all by the fact that his two 'friends' were talking badly about him while he was standing right between them. It was a usual occurrence among the odd trio; either that, or Ragna and Kazuya were clawing at each other's throats. Kirby figured that being the only one insulted was a much better option. All that mattered was that they helped him settle matters swiftly and decisively. Not a single member of MvC was going to be allowed to leave with their lives intact.

"So...should we go in now?"

Kirby nodded. For only a second, his body became bathed in light, resulting in a familiar red cap materializing on top of his head. Ragna and Kazuya instinctively stepped back; they could tell that the pink puffball meant business. With a wave of his hand, and a shout meant for revenge, Kirby threw an exceptionally-large fireball at the bar's front door. The resulting collision was a powerful one, blasting the wooden doors into pieces, loud enough to immediately awaken anyone in the near vicinity. The three fighters waited with bated breath. As the smoke started to clear, a single figure stepped outside. It was Frank West, drunk off his ass.

"Hey, uh...hey! Who blew down the fuckin' door?" he shouted out into the cold night, and then he knelt over and proceeded to vomit. Kirby wasted no time in getting the jump on the intoxicated man. Switching his red hat for the cap of a certain penguin king, Kirby swallowed Frank West whole with a single gulp. However, the unfortunate man was not spat out. Kirby darted straight into the bar afterward, leaving his allies behind immediately. Ragna and Kazuya exchanged puzzled glances.

"Did he just...?"

"I believe he did. He's quite serious this time. I like it." Kazuya smiled devilishly.

"...Just make sure you don't go getting a boner over him, okay?"

Kazuya's smile folded back into his usual scowl.

The lights inside the bar, after having been out in the dark for so long, temporarily blinded the tiny alien. Despite this handicap, he continued to run forward aimlessly. He didn't care what kind of danger he put himself in; he already knew that he would make it out safely. His confidence and determination to see victory were at its peak. Listening to the sounds around him, Kirby heard the enraged scream of a woman from overhead. Not wasting any time, Kirby sprouted a pair of horns and a red mane, spewing red-hot flames in the direction of the voice. Chun-Li, the Chinese martial artist, bellowed with agony. She helplessly grasped at her melted face, but collapsed dead soon afterward.

Crimson Viper immediately lost herself to her rage. Seeing the woman she loved be murdered so violently and so suddenly snapped the already thin threads of her psyche. She charged at Kirby, fists clenched, screaming for retribution. Unfortunately, she was never able to attain any. Putting on a spacewoman's helmet, Kirby fired a blast of pure energy from his power cannon, blowing a hole through Viper's chest. Most of her organs and her skeletal frame were blown apart by the impact. She was obviously dead before she even hit the ground.

"Holy shit! Who the hell is this guy? He just killed three of our guys! He's crazier than me!" Deadpool exclaimed from the sidelines.

"It matters not who this strange creature is," Thor replied, and his mighty hammer began to flicker with electricity, "I will take care of him in only an instant."

Thor was above Kirby before the latter even realized it. The mighty Norse God swung his hammer down upon the puffball's head, only to have it blocked by Ragna's abnormally large blade. Black energy, like flames, was flowing off of the blade's edge. Ragna swore quite loudly; the shock-wave of the hammer's impact against his sword nearly broke his entire arm.

"Dammit, you little pink idiot! You can't just go running in like that! You're lucky I got here in time!"

Kirby gave him an approving nod.

"Don't just nod at me! Hurry up and get this done with already!"

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past; it just barely grazed the top of Kirby's head. Kirby looked up towards the upper floor, spotting Hawkeye with his bow at the ready. It would make killing the others much more difficult if he had to keep dodging projectiles at the same time, so eliminating Hawkeye was an immediate priority. Fortunately, it was an easy task. Kirby sprouted a pair of brown ears, an eagle's beak, and a visor over his left eye. He whipped out an exceptionally large laser gun from behind him and fired once into Hawkeye's chest. He fired again, blowing off a large chunk of the masked man's face, and then another shot blew off his right leg. The buffoonish, bloody rag-doll tumbled over the railing and into the tables below.

Kirby prepared to aid Ragna in his battle against Thor next. However, his chance was sliced to ribbons by the claws of Felicia, who pounced onto Kirby like the rabid cat that she was. Her claws tore at Kirby's flesh, his tough and rubbery exterior being the only reason that he wasn't a bloody, torn-up mess yet. Kirby was pinned, with no way to escape this onslaught. Fortunately, there was another savior to be had.

"Get off him."

Kazuya slammed his knee into Felicia's rib with enough force to send her flying. Kazuya opened a clenched fist to reveal a shredded slip of yellow paper. Lying not far behind him was the lifeless body of Hsien Ko. The man who ruled both the ring of business and the ring of martial arts let out a scoff in disgust. He overturned his hand over Kirby and allowed the yellow shreds to fall on top of the little alien.

"These were the ones who killed your precious friends? I'd hate to have seen how weak they had been compared to these fools."

Kirby pretended not to have heard him. His tiny heart burned at the memory of all of those corpses back at Smash Mansion. As the two stared up at one another, Rocket Raccoon's decapitated head rolled by, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

"Yes! I got another one! Goddamn fuzzy bastards!" Ragna cheered over the roaring din.

Even though the hit had damaged her internal organs some, Felicia was unfazed, as she crept back over to Kirby and Kazuya for another round. Following her were Morrigan and Dr. Doom. Kirby gasped; these two were leagues above from the previous fighters that had been killed so easily. They would be quite a challenge to defeat. They practically oozed with almighty power.

"We're not all weak, you know...it's just we have alot of newbies on our side who don't know the ropes. It was older members like ourselves that killed all of those pitiful little Smashers." Morrigan explained, grinning wickedly. She snapped her fingers, and several hundred bats made of pure darkness swarmed all around her. Her eyes seemed to glow bright scarlet.

Kazuya grunted, getting into a fighting position. "That means nothing to me."


	3. The Assault 2

Ragna let out a triumphant roar as the tip of his blade pierced through Thor's armor, and into the Thunder God's heart. Thor let out a deep, pitiful moan before his muscles slacked and he became nothing more than a rotting doll. His mighty hammer slipped out from his grasp, clanging to the floor, now as utterly useless as the rest of him was. Ragna picked up the hammer and looked it over for a few seconds before tossing it over his shoulder. It hit an oblivious Taskmaster in the back of his skull, knocking him unconscious in the process. Ragna started to turn around, to rush to Kirby and Kazuya's aid, but he was suddenly accosted by a ferocious white wolf.

"Whoa!"

Ragna put his blade out just in time; if he had been a few seconds slower, the dog's jagged teeth would have cut into his chest. The wolf continued to snarl and growl at him, clawing at his blade as if attempting to dig right through it. Ragna kicked the dog away to put some room between them. At this point, Ragna got a good look at the entire wolf and its weaponry. Normally, the wolf would have appeared as a simple white wolf to a regular person. However, considering the fact that his right arm alone was powered by demonic energy, Ragna was far from normal. He could see the wolf's true self as clear as day. Its body was covered in blood-red markings, and some kind of green, flaming disc hovered over its back. Ragna didn't know what to make of it, but it didn't really matter. For him to continue living, this wolf would have to die.

"Hold on, Amaterasu! Don't be so hasty!" Ragna heard a voice shout out from behind him. An instant later, Ragna felt as if his very spinal cord had been shattered into pieces. The white-haired boy grit his teeth, falling to one knee, trying his hardest not to let the agonizing pain overwhelm him. Looming over him was Nova, his right hand still glowing with the energy that he had hit Ragna with. Nova swung his other fist down towards Ragna's head, but missed, his target narrowly rolling out of harm's way. Ragna rubbed his aching back; he couldn't believe he had let himself get injured so badly, and so early on into this miniature gang war. Fortunately, it hadn't been as fatal to his body as he had previously suspected.

"Geez...I'm really getting tired of being kicked around like this..." Ragna grumbled.

Nova, likewise, was very unhappy with this. "How are you still alive? You didn't even block my attack; you should be dead!"

"I guess I'm just lucky. Now," Ragna swung his gigantic blade and then held it out in front of him, pointing it at Nova's chest, "Why don't you cut the crap with the sneak attacks and just fight me head-on? You're just going to make yourself look bad in front of your friends if you have to be so sneaky. Judging from that outfit, though, I don't think stealth will ever work out well for you."

"You ought to shut your mouth-"

"Hold it." Suddenly, just as Nova had begun to summon his powers again, Dante stepped between him and Ragna. "I want to take this guy on, if you don't mind." the white-haired demon hunter announced.

"Wait, Dante, but me and Amaterasu were going to take care of him!" Nova exclaimed, slightly jealous at having his kill taken away, but then he added, "Shouldn't you help Morrigan and Dr. Doom? The sooner we kill these annoying intruders the better!"

Dante shrugged. "Nah; they can handle themselves! Anyway, I got a bone to pick with this guy. I think he's trying to ruin my style."

"What?"

Dante ran a small, blue comb through his hair for a few seconds, and then tossed the item aside to unsheathe his twin pistols. After spinning the guns on the tips of his fingers, acting as if he were performing in the circus rather than at a life-or-death battle, he aimed both of their barrels at Ragna's head.

"Buddy, you got to be one of the oddest cosplayer fans I've met in a long time," he remarked with a hint of dry wit.

"Cosplay?" Ragna cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, of course. The red coat, the black clothes underneath, the big sword, the white hair...but, kid, you really need to work on your look. My sword isn't nearly that ridiculous-looking, and I'd never step out in public with bed-hair that awful. You don't look like me at all! I'll give you some points for trying, but you need to make a bit more effort if you want to cosplay as me. You're just embarrassing yourself right now!"

Ragna, stupefied, nearly lost his footing after hearing the man's words. "Y-You dumbass! I'm not cosplaying you at all! This is how I naturally look!"

"Oh."

"You're probably the last person I'd ever cosplay...even if I was into that kind of stuff!"

Dante fired off several bullets; Ragna blocked them all with a swipe of his sword. However, when he looked back to his opponent, he realized that he had disappeared. Ragna careened his beck back, staring up to the ceiling, and saw the pistols' barrels staring back at him. He cursed loudly, jumping out of the way just to avoid the spray of lead. Dante put his guns away and pulled out his own blade, and it clashed against Ragna's with an ear-piercing bang. Unsure of what to do, Nova and Amaterasu watched on. Sometimes Dante's aloof, 'do-things-my-own-way' attitude was a source of great frustration.

"Hey, you're pretty good!" Dante smirked. "But I guess I should have expected that from the guy who killed Thor. Oh, and I can't forgive you for killing that little talking raccoon guy either. He was really cool."

"Tough luck!"

From further away, as calm and icy as ever, Vergil watched in anticipation as his brother engaged the enemy. Unlike their earlier assault on Smash Mansion, it seemed that Dante would have to resort to fighting full strength without his help this time.

* * *

"Ah! My nose! You asshole! You broke my beautiful nose!"

Morrigan fell back, her slender hands wrapped around her face. Blood dripped through the spaces between her fingers. Kazuya grunted in displeasure and wiped his hand against his pants, leaving a red stain behind.

"For all of your boasting from earlier, you take a hit pretty badly." he remarked.

Morrigan's eyes flared with rage. "You...you bastard!" she screamed, her voice slightly muffled by her hand, "You just got a lucky hit in! Don't get so cocky just because you could ignore my sensual allure!"

Kazuya shrugged. "Hmph...it wasn't really that difficult to do."

"Shut up!"

Morrigan's wings spread out and grew, twisted and convulsing in an eruption of darkness, taking on the form of two gigantic, clawed hands. The first one came swinging at Kazuya's left; the martial artist threw up his arm just in time, avoiding from taking the full brunt of the attack. Nonetheless, the onslaught of force was still enough to send him skidding into a nearby table. Morrigan curled the other 'hand' into a fist, and prepared to bring it down upon Kazuya's vulnerable chest. She swung it like a hammer onto a nail, and the table's destroyed remains were shattered further as Kazuya was knocked to the ground. Letting out a shriek-like giggle, Morrigan removed her hand from her face. Her nose and lips were smeared with her own blood, and she was also missing one of her front teeth.

"How do you like that? You ignorant, ugly son of a bitch?"

Again and again she slammed the giant hands upon Kazuya's motionless body. Splinters and dust flew everywhere. Although she was known to act high-class, sophisticated and collected, this was one of those times where a small grievance would send her into a psychotic frenzy. She was a demon at heart, after all.

Kirby saw Kazuya's beating out of the corner of his eye. He wished so badly that he could go to his friend's aid, but unfortunately he was tied up with his own problems at the moment. A problem that involved a certain metal-faced mad scientist.

"You should have died with the rest of them at that mansion!"

Dr. Doom fired his blaster. In the blink of an eye, Kirby transformed himself into a spiked ball, effectively protecting himself from the attack. Dr. Doom swore under his breath; he shoved his laser gun back into its holster and waves of electrical energy started to flow from his fingertips. Kirby turned back, back-flipping over one of the finger-beams. Dr. Doom continued to fire them off in a vicious assault, not willing to give in an inch. He would never allow himself to lose to a pink puffball; it would be a humiliation beyond compare. Dr. Doom's laser grazed Kirby several times, leaving behind blackish-red burn scars. They healed quickly, but the pain lingered. Kirby floated himself over another spray of lasers after gulping a mouthful of air. This went on for some time between the two of them, but then Dr. Doom's finger-lasers temporarily ran out of juice. This gave Kirby the time he needed to get in close.

"Oh..."

Kirby sprouted a mane of dark-red hair and pounded one of his tiny fists against Dr. Doom's stomach. He did this again and again until he felt his stub of a hand pierced the metal and touched bare flesh. It enacted a chain reaction across the doctor's entire body; The metal plates that covered him began dislodging, bursting apart like kernels popping, and blood and steam gushed outward. Dr. Doom screamed in agony before collapsing, unable to move an inch more. He was still alive, but Kirby decided that he had done more than enough damage.

Felicia pounced out from behind. Kirby spun around to face her, his red hair replaced with a red helmet, a golden falcon embedded into into it. The cat woman was taken out with a single hit from Kirby's flame-covered punch. Her face had been violently restructured to resemble a clump of trash.

With his two opponents out of the way, Kirby tried to go to Kazuya's aid, but was halted by Mike Haggar and Arthur. He sighed; this was definitely going to be a long night.

At the same time, Morrigan was already gloating over her apparent victory.

"Ha ha ha ha! That's what you deserve for mocking me, and breaking my nose like that! You deserve death!"

Suddenly, before she could have even expected it, Kazuya erupted from the floor underneath her, bashing her in the chin with his uppercut in the process. Morrigan fell back, Kazuya got onto his feet and brushed away the dust that covered his buff arms. Morrigan, understandably, was quite furious about this.

"How are you still alive?" she screeched. Even though it ached terribly just to talk with her broken jaw, she pushed past the pain.

Kazuya held up a half-eaten tomato with an M stamped on it. "This item that Kirby gave me proved useful. Just a bite of it brought back all of my strength."

"What?"

"It's a shame I had to use it so early, but, if I had to utilize the Devil Gene against someone like you, it'd be a waste."

Kazuya seemed to temporarily evaporate into the air, only to reappear inches from Morrigan's face. He punched her once in the stomach, and then in the neck, and finally kicked her in the right leg, causing her to fall in close enough for him to hit her in the face with his knee. This time, though, Morrigan wasn't going to let herself be made a fool of. She swung one of her large black claws again; three wide, horizontal cuts opened up on Kazuya's chest. The CEO pushed on, ignoring the stinging pain, and grasped his fingers tightly around Morrigan's throat. Morrigan tried to strike back in any way she could, or at least she wanted to...but she couldn't. Not when she stared into those eyes. Eyes that glowed blood-red, eyes that belonged only to a demon who was far beyond her own power. She felt herself shiver.

'There's something inside of him...' she thought, but then her previous rage returned, 'So it'd be better if I killed him right now!'

Kazuya had been so focused on snapping Morrigan's neck that he had neglected to watch over the rest of her. He felt Morrigan's hand slip into the upper half of his left rib, he had no need to look down at it. She was going for his heart. Instead, he closed his eyes and temporarily allowed the Devil Gene to empower him. The power of the Devil Gene was like an addiction, but he knew that he couldn't rely on it too much, lest he allow himself to be taken over by the evil within. He let out an inhuman roar as he lifted Morrigan with his hands alone and threw her into a nearby wall. The emerald-haired succubus crashed through the wall, leaving a gaping hole in her wake.

Kazuya ate the rest of the tomato, and the wound in his side healed instantly. He really needed to ask Kirby about the origin of the plants; he would be able to make a killing off of selling them.

* * *

Morrigan wandered in disarray through one of the bar's dark hallways. She had only lost consciousness for a moment, but instead of returning to the battle, she chose to escape with her life still intact. Her wings had been destroyed, her right arm hung limp, and her nose and jaw were still broken. She wasn't in any shape to continue fighting against Kazuya. Especially not when he possessed that much power inside of him. Nonetheless, there was still a passionate desire to seek revenge. No man had ever treated her so cruelly, so sadistically before. Her beauty and sensuality had always worked well on men before; she hadn't fought an opponent would could easily look past her wiles. It was a humiliation on an epic scale.

'That bastard...I'll find some way to get back at him...somehow...'

Suddenly, Morrigan was approached by a number of familiar figures. Some of the most powerful members of the MvC so far: Albert Wesker, Akuma, Magneto and Iron Man. They were also accompanied by a very pale-faced Phoenix Wright and an equally uncomfortable Tron Bonne. Morrigan stared at them all, unable to comprehend what was going on. Wesker was the first one to speak.

"Morrigan Aensland. Are you alright?"

"N-No...of course not...I'm badly hurt, as you can see..." All of Morrigan's anger had been smothered the instant that Wesker started speaking to her. Like Kazuya, Wesker made her tremble with a kind of fear. But it was a fear that told her that he would willingly kill her over just the slightest issue, and that was why she usually avoided him all times. Even her, someone who was proud of herself to the point of vanity, wouldn't want to be on Wesker's bad side. In all cases, the leaders of the MvC would give Wesker clearance to do as he pleases. He always made sure to fulfill any request they had for him. He was both well-respected but also unreadable.

"Ms. Aensland, if you cannot fight against the intruders to your last breath, then you're in sever violation of the laws of our group. You do realize that, don't you?"

"I..."

"You don't need to say anything. Sentinel."

The massive robot emerged from the shadows, and lifted a struggling Morrigan into the air by her head. The woman gasped; she knew what was coming. She tried to revert herself into bats to escape but she was just so weak. She was completely powerless by this point. All she could do now was scream and kick. Of course, it was all for naught.

Sentinel squeezed its grip. Morrigan's cries for mercy were brutally cut short; her shoulders slumped and a wet trail trickled down her inner thighs. The robot then tossed the demoness's corpse into the open hands of Tron's mobile robot.

"Ms. Bonne, if you would please make use of Ms. Aensland's body for 'reconstruction'," Wesker asked. He spoke so calmly that he could have more likely been getting his taxes filed than having a woman murdered for disobeying orders. He was just so cold about everything. Of course, the same could be said for the others too.

Tron fought back the urge to vomit as she looked over the body. "R-Right away, sir."

"Let us know how things are going with the Nemesis and the Hulk, as well. The fused skin should heal very soon, judging from what I read in the data."

"Understood, sir."

Phoenix Wright sighed, trying to calm himself down after witnessing such a horrific scene. He didn't think he would ever get used to it. '...Just how did things end up becoming like this...?' This wasn't the kind of life he had hoped to live when he first decided to become a defense attorney. A battling defense attorney, at that.


	4. Other Heroes

Kazuya Mishima looked over his shoulder to see Kirby approaching him, wearing a yellow biker's helmet with a 'W' emblazoned on its front. The ravaged, half-eaten bodies of Haggar and Arthur didn't lay far behind the living wad of bubblegum. Kirby wiped away a splotch of blood on his cheek, and gave Kazuya an affirmative nod. Kazuya let out a soft, uneasy chuckle.

"That copy ability of yours is extremely useful. You can exact vengeance on your friends' killers by using the very powers of the dead...fascinating."

Kirby shook his head. He looked around at the scene that surrounded them. Blood and discarded organs were everywhere. Corpses were piled high, and some of them were already starting to stink. Farther away, RAgna was deep in combat with a white-haired man who dressed similarly to him. There were several other members of MvC watching the fight too. At this point, Kirby knew that there was nothing he could do to help Ragna. The young man wouldn't want that. He was a stubborn bastard. And with that dark power inside of him, he was bound to come out on top eventually. Plus, if Ragna kept them busy, then all the better for the pink puffball.

"Hold on a moment," Kazuya suddenly spoke up, snapping Kirby back to attention.

"Those powers of yours, is that all of them?"

Kirby shook his head again.

"So you're saying...some of the bodies at your Smash Mansion were missing?"

Kirby just shrugged. Kazuya decided not to ask about it any further. The two of them made their way deeper into the building's depths without another moment to waste...

* * *

Phoenix Wright had broken away from the rest of the group as soon as he had the chance. Wandering aimlessly through the dark halls, he clasped his hand over his mouth, fighting back the urge to vomit as he thought back to Morrigan's merciless head-crushing. These people were insane. They killed without any signs of remorse, and they always doing it in the most violent and cruelest ways possible. Phoenix obviously didn't fit in with them at all; he only had bare-minimum fighting abilities, at the least. He had never killed a person before.

'So...why am I working with these people at all?'

No, Phoenix knew quite well his reasons for acting as MvC's main defense attorney. It was because they were holding his assistant Maya hostage. It was the fact that she would be killed if he disobeyed that kept him working under the gang; if the girl had been out of harm's way, Phoenix would have likely offed himself to screw Wesker over. Because of his massive popularity in the court of law, and how he always succeeded in winning against some of the very best prosecutors, he fond himself scouted by a number of groups. They wanted him to help represent them and protect them from conviction. One of those groups was the MvC, and by kidnapping poor Maya they made quite the argument in convincing Phoenix to join them. Even worse, it was Ironfist that held the control over her life.

Phoenix's mind shifted back to that horrific assault on Smash Mansion. He remembered watching Ironfist actually knock out and rape a young woman, a blonde girl wearing a crown. The masked psychotic then proceeded to murder her in cold blood. The spiky-haired lawyer feared what that man would do to Maya, or what he may have already done to her. There was no way of knowing. They refused to tell him anything about her or her condition. He didn't even know where they were keeping her. All he could do now was continue working for them and hope that there would be some way to get out of all of this.

And tonight may just grant that glimmer of a chance.

'Wesker knows everything that's going on...I heard him talk about some kind of attack, and already a large number of members are dead...I know it's wrong to be happy over the deaths of others, but...does this mean these bastards may just get what's coming to them after all?'

"Hey."

Phoenix nearly burst out of his suit in shock. He looked to his right, and saw Christ Redfield standing there with his back up against the wall, his large arms crossed over his chest. He was staring straight back at Phoenix. He didn't look happy in the slightest. Yet at the same time, there was a noticeable sadness in his expression.

"Oh, uh...hello, Chris."

"...You saw what happened to Morrigan, didn't you?"

"Huh?" Phoenix blinked. "Yeah...yeah, I did..."

A minute of silence passed between them. Phoenix felt incredibly awkward with this situation; he rarely talked to anyone in the MvC for good reason, and Chris was no exception. However, at least he wasn't someone like Ironfist. Chris was a rather passive person for being apart of such a violent group, and he seemed very reluctant to follow under Wesker and Iron Man. Chris scratched at the bridge of his nose, and sighed.

"This is all pretty fucked-up."

"What?"

"That's what you think, right? Killing people for no reason, murdering teammates, using them for experiments...it's twisted as hell."

Phoenix didn't know what to say. Everything that Chris was saying was true, but could he really agree with him? If he said 'yes', it might be a trick set by the higher-ups to weed out traitors in the group. Nonetheless, Phoenix couldn't help but nod his head, gulping as he did so. Christ nodded in return. His eyes told him right away that this was no trick; he was really someone who shared his way of thinking.

"I've been debating it for a while, but I can see that you're obviously not into any of this. You're someone that I think I can trust...Mr. Wright." Christ explained.

"Y-You can just call me Phoenix!"

"Alright, then, Phoenix. Listen closely; I'm not here to cause trouble like the rest of these bastards. I'm here to eliminate Wesker, Iron Man, Magneto, and anyone else who runs this damn gauntlet of insanity."

"What? Really? So you're an...assassin?"

"Ha ha ha, I'm not good enough to be considered an assassin, but I do know Wesker better than most. I was sent here by the BSAA to get rid of all of them for the better of the country, as well as find an old partner of mine, but these guys are no push-overs. There's no way I can just run in and pummel them full of bullets whenever I want. I need to try and get their trust, which makes it alot harder due to my history with Wesker; he knows me too well. But now that the MvC is under attack, everyone is scrambling to figure out what to do. It might make it possible to find the opening I need. I'm going to need your help too, of course. That's why I'm even telling you all of this,"

"I see..." Phoenix couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was like the church-bells of heaven had started to ring inside his very eardrums. It was only a little bit of a chance, but a chance nonetheless. A chance to end the madness.

"Of course, what I have in mind is going to be very risky, and there's a good chance we'll both die. Do you still want to help me? You're a man who works under justice; you should know well how wrong it is to let people like this get away with everything they've done." Chris held out his hand, signifying a hand-shake. Phoenix stated to reach out his own hand as well. Chris was a highly-experienced soldier; he was someone that he could trust.

"Hold on a moment. Just what is this plan of yours, anyway?"

Phoenix heard two familiar clicking sounds, and suddenly the cold barrel of a gun was being pressed against his temple. Much to his surprise, it was the same for Chris, who looked just as stunned as the defense lawyer. After that first second of lost composure, though, Chris started to reach for his own pistol. However, the figure holding the guns to their heads emerged from the darkness at that moment. It was a scruffy-looking man in a stealth suit, and sitting on his shoulders was a small yellow animal and an even smaller, red plant-like creature. A discarded box lay behind him, a box that he had apparently been hiding under.

"...Who are you?" Chris asked, keeping his cool.

"I'll tell you when I decide to. First, I need to know exactly what you two are planning here."

"Why do you need to know? You don't look like one of Wesker's lackeys."

"I want to know...so I can help you."

"What?"

The man began to lower the pistols, and the yellow creature on his shoulder gave him a curious look. Chris and Phoenix glanced down the adjacent hallways; there was no one else around. They didn't have to worry about being walked in on, at least not yet.

"Just tell us who you are. You must be pretty good to be able to sneak this far inside without anyone detecting you."

"Eh, it's what I do, and it was alot easier with everyone around here being kept busy by the little pink guy's rampage. He doesn't know that a few of us had made it out of the Smash Mansion alive. Well, hardly any of us, but still..."

Phoenix couldn't believe his ears. This was just far too good to be true. "So you're saying we should all team up? But you don't want to kill us either to avenge your friends?"

"It's less about vengeance for me, and instead it's just a job. That Wesker fellow is causing big trouble with the government lately; he's been taking out alot of money for something. But I can't lie that I had grown attached to some of the friends that your 'allies' killed. Besides, there's another reason I'm here. Anyway, you can call me Snake. The rat, er, I mean mouse, here is Pichu, and this little red guy with the flower on his head is a Pikmin. He responds to 'Red', or really anything actually. He just does what he wants."

The tiny red creature waved at the two other men.

"Amazing..." Phoenix was quite sure that he was staring at an alien life-form right now. Despite the myriad of strange creatures he had to associate with daily, this one was much more fascinating than the rest.

"So, then, what do you know about everything so far? What's going on around here? That is," Chris still kept an open hand hovering close to the handle of his pistol, "If you really are someone we can trust."

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you everything you need to know about this. There is no way that the other Smashers could have been killed so easily...it was because someone on the inside helped give your MVC the advantage..."

"What? So you mean, you guys had a traitor in your group? Someone working with Wesker and the others?"

That's what I'm saying. And I have a good idea just who it was too. I'm here to take out Wesker, and him."

Chris and Phoenix exchanged brief glances. "Who was it...?"

Suddenly, the conversation was cut short when a disc of red and white came twirling through the air. Snake quickly dropped to the ground; the disc just barely missed him. Like some kind of boomerang, the disc spun back around and into the awaiting grasp of is owner, Captain America. The blue-clad super-hero's eyes glowed a deadly scarlet, and Phoenix felt his blood run cold as he stared at him. Captain America was one of the few members of the MvC that were under mind-control by machinery designed by Iron Man. He had been under this mental manipulation for so long that, according to Wesker, it had become permanent. Poor Captain America was nothing more than a weapon now.

"Shit...we've been found! We need to put this guy out of commission before he gives us away!" Snake exclaimed. At the same time, Chris took out his pistol and Pichu began covering itself in a veil of electrical energy. Behind Captain America, eclipsed within shadows, was another pair of ruby eyes staring at them like tasty morsels to soon devour.


	5. The Assault 3

"Hyah! Cha! Tch! Boom! Bam! Bagoosh!"

Ragna only had a split-second to react to each of Dante's swings, and, even though he successfully blocked them all, it took out most of his stamina to do so. He threw a hateful glare at his opponent; even though their lives were on the line, it seemed like Dante was just playing around. He was even shouting out these weird phrases while he attacked. Ragna didn't know if it was some sort of weak-ass ploy to throw his guard off, but all it really did was get on his nerves. He struck at Dante's face again, missing by a few inches. Their blades ricocheted off each other with each following attack.

"You bastard! Are you...even...taking me...seriously?"

"Hey, hey, calm down, kid," Dante let out a raspy chuckle, brushing back his snow-white locks in the process, "What's the big deal? A guy can't even have a little fun in a fight anymore? I hardly did anything when we attacked Smash Mansion; I wasn't much into shooting guys in the back or raping their women. Ain't my style. I really needed a way to let loose after all my drinks, and buddy, you're providing the entertainment for me!"

"Geez...you're so infuriating..." Ragna grumbled.

"You need to relax more! Wouldn't want you to get an ulcer or anything. Lord knows it won't help your cosplay of me any better, either..."

"For the last time, I am NOT trying to cosplay as you, idiot!"

"I find that hard to believe. I mean, have you seen what you're wearing lately? It's almost too close to be just a coincidence!"

"Yeah, you may say I look like I'm copying you...but at least I'm not getting a pointless reboot..."

"What?"

"Shut up with your blabbing already!"

Ragna coated his blade with a surge of dark energy, and, with a mighty thrust, sent Dante's own sword twirling high into the air. Of course, this did little to perturb the demon hunter. He immediately proceeded to unsheathe his twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory, from within his coat and pummel the young man with bullets. Ragna screamed; normally, due to the demonic power inside of him, regular bullets didn't have much effect. This time, they hurt like hell. Still not enough to kill him on the spot, but incredibly painful. It only seemed logical that a demon hunter would be packing bullets designed specifically for killing demons. Ragna started to run. He darted behind a nearby overturned table, but it didn't last long, as Dante's bullets easily tore through the flimsy wood.

"What? As soon as the guns come out, you turn tail?" Dante called out in a mocking tone. Ragna gritted his teeth; he REALLY hated this guy. He needed to find a way to close the gap between them again, and fast. Dante had already made it obvious that he was just playing around, so it was likely that he wouldn't try to seriously kill Ragna until he became an actual threat. After some time, Dante stopped firing at the table, and Ragna was left alone. He didn't trust leaving cover just yet, though. He hastily snatched a beer bottle off the ground and threw it upward. It took less than three seconds before it was blown to pieces by one of Dante's bullets. Projectiles wouldn't be much help either against this guy.

"C'mon, Mr. Bravado, didn't you want to kill me or something? What's wrong?"

Ragna couldn't take it anymore. Like usual, he would have to just bare the pain. Sword in hand, Ragna jumped out of cover and charged straight for Dante. The demon hunter calmly fired off his guns in rapid succession at the approaching terror. The bullets blew open holes in Ragna's chest, shoulders, legs, and arms, among other places. Ragna's body was covered in his own blood, but most of it blended in with his red coat. Nonetheless, even when it seemed he was just about ready to falter, he pressed onward with all of his strength. Finally, when he realized he was close enough, Ragna's speed increased in a short burst. He thrust his blade in front of him. Dante didn't have enough time to get away. Ragna's sword pierced him deep into the middle of his chest, erupting out of his backside.

"Gah!"

"Ha...how do you like that, you smart-ass bastard?"

Suddenly, Ragna felt the cold barrel of Ebony pressed to his forehead. He saw Dante flash a toothy, blood-stained grin. Ragna's number of regrets about agreeing to help Kirby on his little vengeance quest were steadily mounting. Ragna let go of his sword's grip and dipped forward. Dante pulled the trigger. The bullet flew, just barely grazing the nape of Ragna's neck. Dante swore under his breath. The severe wound in his abdomen was starting to take its toll. Even though Dante possessed demonic power of his own, it wasn't enough to heal such a large injury. With a mighty tug, Ragna pulled his sword out, splattered droplets of blood all over the wooden floor.

The demon hunter crumbled in defeat, but he didn't make it far before Vergil appeared to catch him. Ragna was too weak to immediately begin fighting the other brother, so he slowly backed away as he watched them converse amongst themselves. He needed to find Kirby and Kazuya as quickly as possible.

"Dante."

"V...Vergil...sorry, man. I made a stupid mistake, ya know."

"You idiot; there's more than one way to win a battle. You should have just let me help from the beginning!"

"Yeah...I guess so..." Dante coughed, spitting up more blood.

"You know that there's only one hope left for you now. Right, Dante? The unity of our powers."

"Sure...sure...but hey, can I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Can I be the dominant personality this time?"

"Fine."

Suddenly, the two brothers were covered in a burst of white light, and the light contorted and shaped itself into a single being. The light faded away to reveal an entirely new person standing in the place of Dante and Vergil. It was, or at least it looked to be, a young white-haired man similar in appearance to Vergil, but he also had some of Dante's facial features, and he wore a dark-purple Victorian outfit with a cravat and gloves. He even had on a monocle over his left eye. In his right hand was a Japanese katana. His intense, piercing gaze was focused in Ragna's direction; just looking at this mysterious man made Ragna's stomach turn. It wasn't disgust but a deep sensation of fear that he felt.

"I am the Dark Knight Sparda." the white-haired man announced.

"...Fuck."

* * *

Snake was the first to point out that it was not only Captain America who had shown up to fight them.

"Watch out!"

Something fast and red leaped over the Captain's head, and cut a small gash into Phoenix's left shoulder. The lawyer looked up to the ceiling; a familiar flying creature was clinging onto an overhead lamp. All of the color drained from his face.

"It's...it's Firebrand!" he exclaimed.

"Gah ha ha ha, I'm glad you still remember my name, Wrighty-boy," cackled the beak-faced demon.

Phoenix gulped; Firebrand had always freaked him out a little. It was like the strange creature actually got off on torturing other people, and considering the lack of any real friendship between most MvC members, he probably wouldn't hesitate to kill him for the hell of it ,either. But now he had a reason; he knew that Phoenix and Chris were going to betray the group's leaders.

"You think you can get away from your responsibilities to us, Wrighty? Well, you're wrong! Dead fucking wrong! And you too, Redfield-fucker!"

"What's up with this guy?" Snake asked Chris. The secret agent pulled his pistol out and fired several shots at the demon. Firebrand blocked them all with a wave of his wing, and laughed again. His high-pitched snickering was probably one of the most annoying things that Snake had heard in a long time.

"They dope him up with too many drugs."

"You don't say? You sure he isn't just taking them all himself?"

"Hey! I can hear you two quite clearly you know!" Firebrand interjected, "Captain America, chop off their heads for me! I need some new trophy additions for my mantel!"

Captain America charged towards both the traitors and the intruders.

"Damn, we can't be fighting in a hallway like this; we need to find somewhere with more space to move!" Christ shouted to the others.

Snake nodded. "You're right! We need to run!"

Chris and Phoenix led the way, with Snake and his two tiny companions coming in close behind. They jumped into the first room that they came across. It just so happened to be the room where Wolverine and She-Hulk were in the middle of making love. Or at least, it looked that way. Snake had read up profiles about the members of MvC before arriving on the scene, so he wasn't surprised that She-Hulk would be on bottom due to her immense strength.

"Oh...uh, hi there."

* * *

Kirby couldn't help but feel perplexed. It had been nearly an hour since the beginning of his assault on MvC. And yet, ever since the initial attack at the bar's entrance, there had been no other opponents. Him and Kazuya had gone quite deep into the building already, and no one was after them. Although he was grateful for such luck, it was also far too suspicious to seem natural. There had to be something else to it. Looking up at Kazuya's expression, Kirby knew that he was also pondering on the unnaturalness of the situation.

"Do you think we should go and look for trouble?" he suddenly asked.

Kirby shrugged.

"You're the one who wants to kill them for what they did to your friends, Kirby. You started this. You need to finish it, and the only way is by taking them all out. It's our job to find them, and that's why I'm here. To help you do so."

Kirby felt a little better. Kazuya wasn't the nicest guy around, but he always stuck around until the end. It was the same with Ragna. Suddenly, Kirby realized something; they really should have stayed and helped Ragna. They had left him all on his lonesome in a room with several enemies. If he died, it would essentially be Kirby's fault because he brought him here in the first place. That wasn't something the puffy blob could live with. With this sudden change of heart, Kirby was prepared to turn around and head back. But then he saw Ragna running straight towards them. Right on his tail was what appeared to be a massive, horned demon with a katana in its grasp. Black flames poured from its mouth, and its eyes gleamed with glowing red light.

"Run, you idiots! Run now!" Ragna barked. Kirby and Kazuya proceeded to do just that. Reaching into his back-pocket, Ragna took out the Maxim Tomato that Kirby had given him. He ate the entire thing, and all of his previous injuries were healed. He was definitely going to need to be at full power for what came next. He couldn't run from Sparda forever; he needed to find the perfect moment, the best chance to attack. And he might as well have dragged Kirby and Kazuya into it. They did abandon him, after all.


	6. Devils, Wolves And Women

Kirby, Ragna and Kazuya ran as if their lives depended on it, and they did. Every now and then they had to duck to avoid the oncoming swings of the dark knight's mighty blade. It was only just by their luck that the living demon was unable to catch up to them; it seemed that most of his power was focused on keeping himself in his monstrous-looking state. Whenever Kirby glanced at the deadly blade slicing the air above, he could see that it was covered with stains of blood all over. Left-overs from previous victims, no doubt.

"Just how long do you two plan to keep running away?" Kazuya suddenly asked.

"E-Excuse me?" Ragna coughed, "In case you haven't noticed, you're running away with us too! Jackass."

"What I mean is, we came here to fight, not to run. It's a pitiful thing for a man of honor such as myself to do."

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you just try and fight back, you prick?"

"Very well."

Kazuya skid to an immediate halt, and bashed his elbow against Sparda's face without missing a beat. The Dark Knight was sent sprawling backwards onto the floor. Kirby and Ragna could only stare on, speechless. Kazuya wiped his hands against his jeans as if what he had done was as simple as swatting away a fly.

It took only a few seconds before Sparda was back on his feet again. Of course, the mighty warrior was both stunned and confused. He had never met a man, a human man, who could fell him so easily, and in a single strike like that. It was a very humiliating notion. Even though he had obliged himself to live amongst humans, it did not mean that he could be defeated by them. His power was otherworldly. There was no way that it could be defeated by human hands. And, with Dante's personality driving the monstrous body, Sparda was not willing to let it go without getting to show off too. With a roar, the Dark Knight pounced towards them.

"Here it comes. No more running," Kazuya said, sounding more like he was ordering them instead of simply talking to them.

Ragna tightly gripped the thin handle of his gigantic blade. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya."

Kirby nodded in agreement. If they were going to defeat this opponent, they had to stop trying to avoid him and work together as a team.

Sparda's sword flew for Kazuya first, determined to kill the man that had shamed him. His attack was repelled by Ragna, and Kirby kicked his round little foot across Sparda's face. Of course, the pink blob had made sure to aim specifically for the wound already left behind by his partner. The Dark Knight was not as thrown off by this assault as he had been before. Now he was expecting it. He tried to strike at Kirby, but discovered that his blade's edge was stuck against the walls. It scraped and dragged against the plaster, slowing down his attacks, and not leaving him with enough room for movement or speed.

"We need a bigger space for a fight like this."

Sparda covered his sword in an aura of dark-red energy. Kirby and his two allies quickly ducked in time. With the demonic energy infused into the steel, a single cut was all it took to shatter large sections of the walls beside them, opening up the other rooms and increasing the size of the 'battleground' several times over. Kirby gulped. The piles of debris crumbled all around them, raising a thick veil of dust and fungus particles. Sparda grinned at his accomplishment; or at least it was assumed so, considering his face's eerie resemblance to a goat's skull. Ragna's blade connected with Sparda's, and Kazuya tried to attack. However, they were both easily knocked away one after the other. Kirby knew that it would be pointless to go at him on his own.

"This guy...is alot stronger than he used to be..." Ragna muttered, still dumbfounded from witnessing such a display of incredible strength. And it had all been done with a katana.

"If you let yourself get shaken then the enemy wins." Kazuya reprimanded him.

"Will you shut up already? Stop telling me what to do!"

Kirby slapped both of them upside the head before they could argue further; it was his way of reminding him to keep all of their attention focused on the task at hand. They needed to fight as one.

"You three are really bad at teamwork," remarked Sparda with a light chuckle.

Ragna held out his blade and Kazuya clenched his fists. Kirby put on a familiar red cap with a little white pom-pom, the hat of an old rival. Despite Sparda's mocking of their lacking in friendliness towards each other, it was not true that they had no teamwork. In fact, a plan had already been set. With Sparda's speed and power, they had only one shot left at hitting him. And even then they would have to hit him with all they had, and take him down for good. They would need a distraction, but the one doing the distracting would inevitably be sliced to bits by Sparda and his sword. Fortunately, Kirby had the solution.

"Raagh!"

Ragna ran for Sparda's left, and Kazuya went to the right. Kirby charged straight ahead. Sparda scoffed; they were fools to think they could trick him like this. All he would have to do was swing his blade in an arc and be done with them all. He prepared to do so, but before he could get much further beyond gripping the handle, Kirby took his chance. He opened his mouth, spitting out something large and covered in saliva. It was the unconscious, slightly-digested body of Frank West. Kirby had swallowed him at the start of the assault, and had been saving him for a moment such as this.

Reacting accordingly, Sparda had to attack the closest threat to him, and he sliced and diced Frank into thousands of small, bloody pieces. That was the opening that Ragna and Kazuya had been waiting for. With a roaring cry, Ragna cut his giant sword deep into Sparda's waist, pulling it out on the other side, severing his legs from the rest of his body. Kazuya slammed his fist into Sparda's face once more, but with so much strength behind it that it actually shattered a large portion of the dark knight's nose, jaw, and one of his eyeballs. Sparda tried to fight back. He hit Ragna over the head with his sword's hilt. Kazuya hit him with another blow to the face, and then the neck. Sparda's groans were laced with pain. Blood gushed out in streams as the frightful-looking foe tumbled to the floor in utter helplessness. He didn't even have legs to stand on anymore.

"You know...for a dark knight, he was pretty easy..." Ragna remarked, casually kicking away the legs of Sparda like trash.

"Ha..." Sparda's voice was low and raspy, plagued with fits of coughing as he spoke his last words, "I was never...really the demon knight Sparda...he was my...our...father...a real bastard of a dad to tell ya the truth...we were just head-strong fools...masquerading as a demon..."

"Ya don't say."

"Of course...it was because I got too cocky that I'm dying now...the real Sparda would have killed you all...before you even knew what hit you..."

"Hmph. Yeah, right!"

"Tell...tell Trish that I'm sorry, okay? If you see her, please don't kill her...she means alot to me..."

And 'Sparda' said no more. The three men stared at the corpse for a minute, and then continued onward.

* * *

"You assholes...what the hell do you think you're doing..."

Chris quickly jumped onto his feet, and attempted to soothe the rage of the nude, green amazon approaching them. Wolverine was hurriedly throwing back on all of his clothes in the step that She-Hulk took left a deep indent in the flooring. Pichu squeaked with fear, jumping behind Snake's back for cover. Of course, against an opponent like this, it would all be for naught.

"She-Hulk, listen...we really didn't mean to barge in like this. It was a complete accident. To be honest, I wouldn't had done this if I had known. Firebrand was attacking us, so we had to just-"

"I don't want to hear it, Chris..." She-Hulk spat out Chris's name as if it were some disgusting thing. Seeing that words were of no use in helping them, the former special agent reluctantly took out his pistol from its holster. He pointed its barrel at She-Hulk's face. Phoenix and Snake started to step back. Snake strained his ears, and he could hear approaching footsteps from the hallway behind them. It wouldn't be long before Firebrand and Captain America arrived. They needed to get out of here, and fast.

"She-Hulk, don't make me shoot you..." Chris said.

The muscular beauty started cracking her knuckles, her face alight with rage. "Do you think a little bullet is going to hurt me? And what did I say about staying out of my room to ALL of you? Especially when I'm in here with my boyfriend..."

"C'mon, She-Hulk-"

"Don't talk to me like that, you stupid bastard! I may not have done it in a while, but I'm still a lawyer! I'll sue you, have you instated into a prison filled with horny, lonely men...but first I'm going to break every goddamn bone in your body! And that goes for the rest of you too!"

"Even me?" Phoenix gasped. He didn't understand this. Sure, he could see why someone would be upset about their lovemaking being interrupted, but this was going beyond the normal reaction into dangerous territory. He remembered how She-Hulk, or rather Jennifer, had been so polite with him when they first met in a court of law. She had never had such a bad temper like this before. It wasn't like her at all.

"Especially you! This organization already has ONE lawyer. They don't need two!" She-Hulk continued to scream.

"What?"

Suddenly, she thrust her arm through the wall to her right. She immediately pulled her arm back in, and with it she brought along a very pale-faced Firebrand. His neck was crushed into pieces within her deadly vice-grip. He was already dead even before going through the wall. With a roar, She-Hulk threw the fresh corpse in the direction of Chris and the others. Acting accordingly, they jumped out of the way. Nonetheless, She-Hulk used this moment to her advantage; with impressive speed she darted over to Chris and slammed her fist against his stomach. The crunching sound that followed was of no good news to the man's companions. He coughed, spitting up blood in the process, and quickly collapsed.

"Chris!" Phoenix was the only one to have seen it happen in motion at the time. Although he wanted to help Chris, the irate She-Hulk standing in his way prevented him from doing so.

She-Hulk now turned to the others, her beautiful face contorted with pulsing veins and throbbing red eyes. There was yellowish-white foam on the edges of her lips.

"What the hell? Even if she's angry as hell...that's not a normal look." Snake remarked. Phoenix cold only dumbly nod his head in agreement.

Wolverine sighed. He was already fully dressed in his uniform again, claws included. "You idiots really did it now."

"Huh? W-What did we do?"

"You made her mad. It's causing those little bugs that Wesker put inside her to go haywire."

"What? Bugs?" Phoenix had never heard of anything like that before.

"Yeah. They get really out of whack when we fuck, but you guys just made things worse. Now I have to try and subdue her again."

"Wait a minute, hold on, what's this about bugs? Just what did Wesker do to her?"

"Quiet! She's coming!"

Phoenix barely avoided having his head bashed apart by the greenette's fists. Snake quickly shifted himself behind her, and tried to grab her into a choke-hold. Unfortunately, She-Hulk elbowed in the rib before he could do so. Seeing the man who had saved his life upset little Pichu greatly. Leaping into the air, Pichu fired off a small thunder-shock attack. She-Hulk simply swatted away the blast of electrical energy as if it were a mere bug, proving how weak of a charge it really was. And that wasn't the end of it. She-Hulk snatched the baby Pokemon by the tail, fully prepared to slam him into the ground. Snake acted quickly, slicing his knife across the backs of She-Hulk's knees, prompting her to release Pichu.

Pichu ran to Snake's side. The middle-aged man was breathing heavily. His rib had been badly damaged from She-Hulk's attack. Seeing the worry on Pichu's face, Snake put on a confident grin in spite of the pain.

"Don't worry about it...just keep yourself out of sight, okay? Take Red with you too."

As the red pikmin hopped onto his back, Pichu couldn't help but feel disgust with himself. He hated being so weak; his older brother and idol Pikachu was dead now, so there was no one to help teach him the ways of fighting. Pikachu's electrical attacks wouldn't have been so easily knocked around. Pikachu wouldn't have to hide; he would be able to fight alongside the others as a member of the team. Pichu whimpered. Just what did he intend to do, coming to this place, if he could only put himself in danger and force others to save him? The red pikmin gave Pichu a pat on the head.

Wolverine shuffled back and forth as he evaded his lover's oncoming swings. It took a few moments for him to find what he perceived as an opening. He struck at her with the sharpened claws of his right hand. She-Hulk grabbed hold, snapping off three of the claws. Wolverine swore under his breath. He used his other hand now, and slashed a set of deep marks across the woman's bare flesh, along her tight abs. Snake fired several tranquilizer bullets into the woman's backside, but it was still no use. She-Hulk snarled like a wild beast. She knelt down, pulled out a section of the wooden floor, and threw the entire thing at Snake's head. Fortunately, it missed.

Snake was growing impatient. "Dammit, this woman...she just won't go down!"

"That's what happens when radioactive mutation turns you into a female version of the jolly green giant!" Wolverine replied.

"And you like her that way?"

"Hey, we all like what we like, okay?"

Wolverine dodged She-Hulk's next attack, and tried to cut her again, but this time she was ready. Even in her psychotic state, she still possessed some of her fighter's knowledge. She stepped sideways at the last moment, causing Wolverine to miss. She then grabbed him by the arm. All She-Hulk did was tug on it, and Wolverine's entire limb was torn off from the shoulder down.

"U...uaaa...uaaaaaagh!"

"Holy shit!"

She-Hulk broke out into a fit of insane giggles. She bashed Wolverine over the head several times with his own arm, laughing all the while. She soon grew bored of this, tossed the arm aside, and simply stomped all over the battered man. Snake could do nothing else but continue to use the tranquilizers. Phoenix, however, was not wiling to stand by any longer. It just so happened that Pichu looked over to witness the chaos when this happened. Because she was distracted at the time, She-Hulk did not notice him running up behind her.

"OBJECTION!"

Phoenix's shout was incredibly loud. It wasn't anything really worth bragging about, but the defense lawyer possessed a strong voice, one that was like he had a megaphone embedded in his throat. Of course, he only used it when he needed it most, although it had proved useful several times in the court of law. It was Phoenix's only real 'power' as it were. Nonetheless, it could puncture ear drums or worse if used in such a close range.

She-Hulk immediately threw her hands over her ears. She howled in pain. Phoenix grinned; he had finally been able to do something to help out. Suddenly, She-Hulk spun around and tried punching at him again. The lawyer wasted no time in turning tail, fleeing for cover as soon as possible. However, Phoenix's attack had not been a pointless one. She-Hulk moaned, clutching her head. She couldn't hear anything anymore. She started to approach Phoenix again, but suddenly the sound of a gun shot rang out. A tiny flower of blood bloomed from the middle of She-Hulk's throat. She collapsed onto her back. Standing behind her, wielding the smoking pistol, was Chris Redfield.

"Chris!" Phoenix exclaimed, relieved to see the man standing, "You're okay!"

"Hah...I wouldn't say I'm 'okay', but at least I'm not dead," Chris replied. He dropped his gun and slumped onto the floor again. Snake hobbled over to his side, taking out a small red object from his backpack. It was a tomato with an M pasted on its front. Snake ate half of it and gave the other half to Chris. In a matter of seconds the two men were completely healed from their previous injuries.

"How did you do that? I thought bullets couldn't hurt her." Snake said.

"I never said I had normal bullets," Chris grabbed his gun, and took out the magazine inside, "They're special bullets I got from the BSAA before coming here, just in case. They were made specifically to use on mutants like her. And she had a pretty slender neck compared to the rest of her body; I just thought it might hurt more there."

"Amazing...these kind of bullets..."

"Anyway, I need you to answer me something now. What the heck was that tomato you just gave me? I don't even feel the pain anymore!"

"It was just something I grabbed on the way over. They heal your wounds. A friend of mine likes them."

"Huh?"

Snake said nothing more on the subject, so Chris decided to drop it. Snake stood up and checked over the bodies of She-Hulk and Wolverine. First, Wolverine had tragically been killed by the woman he loved. His body wasn't able to handle taking so much pain, and the torn arm and broken bones didn't help things. Snake was understandably cautious when approaching She-Hulk. He had no idea if she would suddenly pop back to life or something. However, as he drew closer, he realized that her lips were moving. Somehow she could still talk with a punctured throat. Snake leaned in closely to listen. He was just barely able to make out her words.

"...Thank you..."

She took a quick breath, and then her life left her. Snake sighed. This was going to be alot tougher than he had initially thought.

* * *

"Hey, what's that?"

Kirby, Ragna and Kazuya had reached the end of a corridor. There was a large, steel door, far different from any of the other doors that they had come across so far. Obviously, it was suspicious.

"Do you think we should open it?" Ragna asked.

"Of course," Kazuya replied, "There's nowhere else for us to go, and there's little doubt that it will lead us in the direction we need to go."

"What, have you been here before or something? You seem pretty sure of yourself."

"No. It is just a feeling."

"A feeling...right..."

Kirby placed one of his stubby hands upon the door. The door itself was cold to the touch. However, he could still sense the burning-hot bloodlust that awaited them on the other side. It was almost too intense to handle. Kirby stepped back. He took a deep breath. He couldn't let himself get psyched out. He had to avenge his fallen comrades, no matter what it took. The other remaining members of the MvC were bound to be incredibly strong. And whatever was hidden behind this door would likely be very dangerous. Now that he was this far, though, there was little point in turning back. Kirby looked to Ragna and Kazuya, and gave them a curt nod.

Kazuya nodded back. He turned the door's handle, and the three of them slipped inside. They shut the door tightly behind them. However, ever since they had defeated Sparda, they were unaware that they were being followed by one of more recent creations of one Ms. Tron Bonne.


	7. Monsters In The Shadows

Going through the steel door had brought Kirby, Ragna and Kazuya to a descending, spiral staircase. The room itself was shaped like a cylinder, with a huge amount of space between the stairs and the surrounding walls. The metal steps were coated in a thick layer of dark-red rust. Ragna knelt down, running his gloved finger along the railing's surface. He sniffed it. The dark being that lived within his body was able to prove useful now and then; there were times where it provided him with an incredible wealth of information, things that he would never have known or needed to know otherwise. It was one of the reasons that he had become such a formidable swordsman, along with his own extensive training.

"Yeah, it looks like this place has rusted over a long time ago...this must have been here for ages..." the white-haired man announced.

Kazuya scoffed. "That was obvious from the start. It's rust, after all."

This time, instead of snapping back, Ragna simply chose to remain quiet for now. Otherwise, he would have to suffer another slap in the back of the head from Kirby. For a little pink blob with eyes, he packed one hell of a punch in those stubby arms. Kazuya was the first to begin trekking down the lengthy staircase.

"Let's get going."

Suddenly, the door behind them was blown off of its hinges, and through the smoke came rushing a blur of green and black.

"Guh!"

The shadow slammed itself against Kazuya. It knocked both of them over the railing in the process. They began tumbling towards the ground below with increasing velocity. Kazuya was able to get a better look at his assailant now. It was Morrigan Aensland. Of course, Kazuya did not know her by her real name. He simply remembered her as the insane bat bitch who threw a hissy fit over a broken nose. Kazuya was surprised to see her wounds healed so soon already. He found it strange that her expression was so blank too. As if to answer his queries, Morrigan's face started to unfurl like a present being unwrapped. The inside of her face was completely mechanical, a mesh of silver wires and metal plating. A set of three small, red orbs ran horizontally across one of the bars. Kazuya blinked.

"Huh...so you were a robot all along? No, you aren't even the same person, just a look-alike."

Kazuya reached over and grasped one of Morrigan's breasts, groping it lightly.

"They're cold, but the rest of you is still flesh just like before. What did they do to you? They weren't happy that you were unable to kill me before, were they? I suppose it is certainly better to depend on a machine than a living being at times. A person is bound to have faults, but a machine can be programmed to lack such things."

A beam of pure energy fired out from the bottom-most orb. It pierced through Kazuya's right shoulder, leaving a tiny, smoldering hole in its place. The pain was terrible, true, but it was hardly anything on the scale of his bastard father's fists. It seemed like the beams had been designed specifically to simply tear through flesh so fast that the pain was somehow avoided. Whoever made this probably didn't intend to hurt them badly. A lone kind soul in this gang of demons, it seemed.

Suddenly, Kazuya realized that they were about to hit the ground soon. He flipped himself around her, putting Morrigan under him seconds before they finally crashed.

Kirby peered over the edge of the stairs, and saw no sign of either Kazuya or the one who had attacked him. He knew that Kazuya could take himself, but after a fall like that, could he have even survived it without suffering some really serious injuries?

"Geez, that idiot," Ragna grumbled, "He better not have died."

Suddenly, two more figures appeared out of the darkness around them. A pair of sword-wielders, but one resembled more of a ninja while the other looked like an actual robotic humanoid. One had a sword of steel and the other swung a sword of pure, condensed energy. Kirby and Ragna quickly got into their fighting positions, prepared for yet another battle for their lives. The robot attacked first, slicing his blade through the air and sending a wave of blue energy towards the pink puffball. Kirby quickly cartwheeled out of the way. His face immediately became hidden with thick bandages, a tuft of blonde hair peeking out. The alien warrior swept his hand through the air, and as if through the use of some kinetic force, the robotic warrior was knocked back. The robot glanced at the sphere on his chest; it had been pierced with several fine, wire-thin needles.

"What...is this?" he asked aloud. It was hard to believe that mere needles could have such force put behind their throw.

The ninja charged at Ragna. Their blades clashed in a powerful blaze of black and white energy, flowing over their bodies like gushing torrents of rain. Ragna attempted to push forward, but he found it impossible. The ninja was somehow keeping their blades firmly locked in place, despite being slightly shorter in size and not possessing the power of a great, evil darkness. In fact, he was doing it with one hand alone.

'Wait a minute,' Ragna thought, 'Where's his other hand?'

It was a moment later that Ragna saw it. Or rather, he felt it. In a flash, the ninja swung his arm in an arc, and suddenly a deep, bloody gash opened up on Ragna's left shoulder. Ragna winced, but at least now he knew it wasn't just a sword the ninja had in tow. He could see it better now. It was a sickle tied to the end of a chain. A very useful weapon for long-range combat, especially considering Ragna had to rely pretty much exclusively on getting in close and slicing his enemy to pieces to win the fight. Finally, as if the ninja had coincidentally decided that 'enough was enough', their blades broke apart in a flash. However, Ragna didn't even get enough time to breathe; the ninja was already back within striking range.

"D-Dammit!" Ragna threw up his blade just in time to block yet another attack. The ninja was even stronger this time. The fact that his blade seemed to glow now indicated a great change. But then it started to happen. The red light of the ninja's sword suddenly came alive, seeping off of the ninja's weapon and wrapping around Ragna's. The white-haired young man tried to pull away, but it was no use. The large blade's surface was riddled in cracks; the red light was tearing it apart.

Before Ragna could stop it, his broadsword burst into thousands of tiny shrapnel pieces in his very hands. The ninja proceeded to thrust his blade deep into Ragna's shoulder.

"Gah...uh...raaaaaaaaaahhhh!"

At the same time, Kirby was still locked deep in combat with the robotic warrior. The robot pounced at Kirby once more with his blue energy-sword. In response, Kirby quickly threw on a familiar little crown, and held his stubby hands out in front of him. Toad instantly materialized in his grasp.

"Hey, what's this place-" The denizen of Mushroom Kingdom started to say, but unfortunately, he had little time left on this planet. The robot swung his blade down. It sliced Toad clean in half. However, as guilty as it left him feeling, it had been what Kirby wanted. This Toad was a very special Toad that had been born inside a laboratory, created by the Mushroom Kingdom's leading scientists. He had been designed as a powerful 'living weapon' meant to aid Princess Peach in battle by protecting her from injury. Whenever he was hit, he instinctively countered back the damage by unleashing a thick, white mass of spores from his body. The robot warrior's attack had unleashed the full brunt of those spores.

Kirby and the robot warrior were sent flying in opposite directions. The robot slammed into a wall, while Kirby was sent barreling over the staircase's edge. However, he wouldn't let himself be the only one. Battling on a staircase wasn't any good; they would all have to take a page from Kazuya and truly fight on the floor below. But to do that, Kirby would have to remove the staircase first.

Putting on a familiar green cap, Kirby unsheathed a long, silver sword out of hammer-space. He made three strikes against the rusted metal, forming a triangle in mid-air. The massive triangle of energy was aimed directly at the column that kept the entire staircase standing. For a brief moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. And then the staircase began collapsing apart, taking everyone else along with it. Kirby landed on his feet at the bottom floor just as a massive pile of metal debris fell in front of him. The warrior of Pop Star had no idea whether Ragna was alright or not, but considering that man's usual skills, Kirby safely assumed that he was.

Kirby watched for a few seconds as the ninja and mechanical swordsman tried to lift themselves out of the rubble. He then glanced in the direction of where Kazuya and Morrigan were fighting. If there was one good thing to see, it was that Kazuya was still up and alive. Morrigan, however, had completely changed since Kirby last saw her. With her mechanical face (the one only Kazuya knew about so far) closed again, 'Morrigan' had altered her body's very structure. Instead of a small and slender frame, she was now a gigantic mass of muscle all over her body, from her neck down to her feet.

Huge, swelling balls of throbbing muscle covered Morrigan's arms. Thick veins littered the taut skin. Her thighs were so massive that she could barely walk with them, and she had bulky, sixteen-pack abs running vertically up her abdomen. Although neither Kirby nor Kazuya knew this, but the machine attached to Morrigan's body had been damaged in the fall. It was now pumping massive amounts of testosterone into the corpse, making it swell and grow, confused into believing that it could only win with pure physical power. Morrigan took a single step forward. The simple act of raising and dropping her foot had left a deep imprint in the wooden floor.

Kazuya grimaced. 'This whole fight...it isn't looking good...' He probably could finish off this inflating bag of rotten meat with ease if he used his hidden power, but he couldn't. It was something he had to save for the most necessary moment. It only had one use for tonight, after all.

* * *

Captain America slowly lumbered through the empty hallway. He was nothing more than a zombie, a beast, a brain-controlled drone used to kill anyone that threatened the MvC. All of his thoughts, his personality, his sense of ethics and his moral code...they were locked away, never meant to be opened again. And it was unlikely that they could be, after the severe amount of drugs and brain surgery he had been forced to undergo. Captain America was no longer the hero that he once was.

A trail of gooey saliva trickled down his chin as he slothed around the corner. He saw the strangled corpse of his 'friend' Firebrand lying there. He let out a hollowed cry. Captain America nudged the body with his foot, and after seeing that it was not moving, he started to wail again. He knew little, but at least he knew who his enemies were. He still had not killed the traitors Chris Redfield or Phoenix Wright. Firebrand had gone ahead after them and ended up like this. Thus, it was logical to assume that they were the ones who killed them. Not that Captain America thought all of that. It was just a base instinct, and he was going to go after the traitors regardless anyway.

But then Albert Wesker appeared before him.

"Uur..."

"Stop. Don't say anything."

Wesker didn't like to waste time. He hit Captain America with a powerful uppercut, shattering the masked man's jaw. He then began rapidly punching him in the stomach, over and over and over, each hit harder than the last. Eventually, the blonde man stopped after twenty punches. Blood and vomit started to erupt from CA's gaping mouth. Wesker wasn't finished yet, though. He reached out, grabbed both of the Captain's arms, and tore them off with relative ease. Captain America howled in agony. He stumbled backward, desperate to get away, all of his senses kicking into overdrive. But it wasn't any use. Wesker threw the arms away, and grasped a gloved hand tightly around Captain America's cheekbones. He pulled the struggling Captain closer.

Wesker opened his mouth, and with the swiftness of a gun firing, he bit off a hefty chunk of Captain America's head. Blood splattered all over the surrounding walls.

Wesker swallowed the morsel, and dropped the Captain's corpse to the floor. It had been easier than he thought, taking down the formerly great Captain America. But then again, he knew it would have been easy. After all, he was the one who made the Captain such a blithering weakling anyway. He had always been meant as fodder to be used in experiments. However, he still possessed some strength, and he could have posed a threat to the intruders and the traitors. Especially a certain man from the group.

"Sorry...but the only one who's allowed to kill Chris Redfield is me. And besides, you failed your duties already. You deserved your punishment."

Wesker turned on the heel of his shoe, walking away into the darkness again.


	8. Separation

As Morrigan's massive fist collided with his face, Kirby was somewhat thankful that he didn't have any bones to break. However, he still had blood, and quite alot of it came spilling out of the living puffball as he was sent flying across the room. His flight was brought to a violent and sudden halt when he collided with the wall behind him. Kirby slid down onto the floor and laid there; he was in so much pain, a lesser alien would have died from the initial impact alone.

Slowly, the demoness's towering, monstrous frame lumbered towards Kirby to land a finishing blow. She could not walk as quickly as before with the large amount of muscle-mass weighing her down. Nonetheless, the fact that she had caught Kirby in one of her punches still proved that she was deadly fast in close-range combat. The complex machine that operated all of her bodily functions below the head had made sure of that. Kazuya quickly dropped everything and started running to the pink puffball. He had to get there before Morrigan did. Ragna was nowhere to be seen, so it seemed like it was up to him to act as a hero for once. There was nothing he could do against Morrigan herself, but if he and Kirby teamed up, they might have a chance.

"Hold on. You are not going anywhere."

Kazuya swore under his breath. He had almost forgotten about the other two. The ninja and the robotic warrior wasted no time; they knew what had to be done, and they were particularly known for doing it efficiently. The robot's energized blade tore through the air, aiming for Kazuya's vulnerable neck. Kazuya ducked with split-second timing to avoid being decapitated. The ninja thrust his own blade forward. Kazuya twisted his body sideways, and grabbed hold of the sword with his bare hand. He clenched his fist, and the steel sword shattered in his grip. The ninja was understandably stunned by this development.

"What? But...my sword is infused with plasma! How can you do that?" he exclaimed from behind the red cloth that hid the bottom-half of his face.

"I guess it's just weak, huh?" Kazuya grunted. In truth, the ninja's special blade had already been weakened from its earlier impact with Ragna's own weapon, but that was something neither the ninja nor Kazuya actually knew about at the time. Tossing the broken sword aside, the ninja unsheathed his sickle attached to a metal chain. Before the ninja could even attack, the robot jumped in again, and this time Kazuya had not been fully prepared. Kazuya felt a pain like fire rip his skin apart. He was knocked back, a bloody cut running across his chest. He glanced out of the corner of his eye. Morrigan was getting closer and closer to reaching Kirby. The robot and the ninja would sooner die than let him pass.

'I need...to stop that crazy bitch!' he thought to himself. Suddenly, the ninja's sickle came rushing past his face, just barely failing to gouge out his right eye. Kazuya had an idea. He took hold of the suspended chain, and wrapped it tightly around his arm. He did it so fast that the ninja had been temporarily caught off-guard. A moment later, with a great tug, the ninja was forced high into the air. The robot followed suit. He was clearly going to try and cut the chain, to free his friend. Instead, Kazuya used their positioning to his advantage, and sent the ninja crashing into the robot warrior. They kept going and going until they collided with the wall. The sound of their fall was a satisfying one to the sadistic martial artist.

Kazuya took a step forward. The ground suddenly opened up underneath him. He could do nothing to save himself from tumbling into the darkness below.

The robot and his ninja friend peered down into the trap-door, unable to see the martial artist anymore, just as they had hoped.

"Ha...he really fell for that one."

"Yeah. How far does this thing go?"

"It'll take him down to the lowest levels of our headquarters, if I remember correctly. Right down to the laboratories."

"There's no way he'll make it out alive with what's waiting for him down there..."

"Still, I kind of wish we could have been the ones to kill the intruder."

"It doesn't matter; we can still kill these other two intruders and avenge our fallen comrades."

"Right!"

Neither of them saw it coming. In an instant, a tiny, wire-thin beam of energy shot through the robotic warrior's backside, coming out of the blue orb in the center of his chest. Oil, thick as blood, gushed out of the tiny wound in abundant amounts, forming a puddle of black at his feet. The robot fell to his knees, coughing. The ninja looked in the direction from where the laser had come from, and he saw Kirby with a blonde pigtail, holding a laser pistol in his stubby hands. He was barely able to keep his eyes open, but his aim had been true.

"That bastard...he wasn't unconscious after all!" The ninja exclaimed.

"Dammit...Megaman...I couldn't continue your legend after all..." The robot's lips curled into a sad smile, wet with his own 'blood', and then he collapsed. The ninja tried to shake him awake but to no avail. The robotic warrior's very core had been fatally damaged from that single attack. The ninja immediately flew into a rage; the robot had been the closest thing to a true ally that he could have counted on.

The ninja prepared to slice the puffball apart with his sickle, but he was suddenly accosted by something large, cold and dark. It immediately surrounded him from all sides, instantly cutting off his oxygen flow. The ninja nervously swerved his head back and forth, but he saw no exit. He was trapped inside darkness. He felt like it was closing in on him, slowly. He didn't know what to do. He didn't even understand what was happening. It was impossible to comprehend. It seeped over the floor, covering everything, eating everything like a swarm of locusts. After sucking away the floorboards, it started to crawl all over him. The ninja was helpless as a newborn baby. His body was completely devoured in a span of seconds. He existed no more.

Morrigan, still lumbering towards Kirby, froze in mid-step. Her sensors were warning her of a more immediate danger in the vicinity. She started to turn her massive, beefy frame around, but was suddenly struck face-first by a massive appendage made of dark energy. Her whole head was torn into pieces, severing the machine's connection with the rest of the corpse. Her body twitched with a series of violent jolts before finally giving in to death. In a way, it was a gift to grant her this eternal rest.

The darkness that had easily dispatched of both Morrigan and the ninja belonged to Ragna. Or rather, the demonic being that had been living inside of the young man's heart. The destruction of his precious sword, as well as the seal that it carried on it, had resulted in the partial release of the demon. Kirby, still unable to move his feet, got a good look at the monster that his friend had become.

Ragna's arms looked as if they were aflame with darkness, sprouting into gigantic black tendrils that towered over his relatively tiny self. His eyes were jet-black, and his mouth hung agape to reveal sharp, jagged teeth. It was as if he were screaming in agony, yet he lacked a voice to make any sound. The darkness was thick and alive, like snakes protruding from his skin, horrible, twisted snakes. Ragna threw back his head and unleashed what was probably a mute roar. He was less man and more beast. His common sense had been replaced with the violence and hatred of a raging animal. Ragna was not only a threat to his enemies, but also his friends. Anything that breathed was considered a viable target for his bloodthirsty desires.

Suddenly, a new challenger approached.

It was a large man, his body toned with the muscles of a battle-hardened warrior. He had hair the color of fire, and it resembled as such in its spiky shape. He wore a simple black gi, and a necklace of over-sized beads hung on his thick neck. He wore straw sandals on his feet. Kirby had seen him once before, at the beginning of this miniature war. His name was Akuma.

"Poor, poor creature." he murmured. His voice was deep and rumbling, yet another testament to his imposing presence. He took another step forward. The ground seemed to tremble. The possessed Ragna glared scornfully at this creature that dared to walk before him. The darkness seemed to jump to life, and it shot forward like a bullet, straight at Akuma. One of the tendrils sliced a large gash across his right arm, drawing much blood in the process. Nonetheless, Akuma pressed onward. He casually side-stepped the following attacks; he did not seem perturbed at all about his wounded limb. In fact, it only annoyed him.

"Go back to where you came from, demon!"

Kirby did not get the chance to witness more of this amazing battle, for the pain of his many injuries finally took their toll. He fainted right then and there.

* * *

Snake, Chris, Phoenix, Pichu and the Pikmin Red had wandered throughout the building for what seemed like hours.

"Do you know where you're going?" Snake asked in a hushed tone.

"Of course," Chris replied, although he didn't sound very sure of himself, "I must have been around this place like a million times."

"You don't know where you're going. I can tell it in your voice alone."

"Hey, trust me on this one. I recognize this place; to find Wesker, we need to head down to the labs, which are at the bottom-most floor of their headquarters. He's usually busy at work there, or if he isn't, then we can find out where he is from there. There should be an elevator nearby that we can take all the way down to the last floor. It's a long ride but it's the best way to get there."

"An elevator? We're going to use an elevator? That's practically telling the enemy we're here and trying to kill them!"

"Do you have a better idea? Listen, hardly anyone uses the elevator around here, especially now that most of the MvC is dead. It'll be a piece of cake. One of the scientists in the lab, she's a good girl, she can help us out with the mission. She doesn't want to be here anymore than me or Phoenix. Right, Phoenix?" Chris turned his head to ask the spiky-haired lawyer, only to notice that he was staring down the hallway to their left. His gaze was practically transfixed to it.

"Phoenix?"

Phoenix took a deep breath. "Guys...I, uh, there's something that I need to do right now. Something important. It'll only take a moment, alright? I'll catch up with you later."

"What? Hold on, you're not thinking of splitting from the group, are you? You're going to get yourself killed!" Chris shouted. He was in a bad mood already as it was, and after taking in the implications of Phoenix's words, he wanted to give the damn lawyer a good punch or two across the face. If only to make him reconsider doing something foolish.

"Chris! I have to do this! I'll be careful, I promise! No one else knows what's going on here. They'll think I'm one of them."

"Phoenix, I don't think this is a good idea-"

"I'm sorry. I'm not worth making a big deal over. Just let me do this one last thing, for Maya's sake."

The lawyer did not wait to listen to another word from his comrades. He sprinted down the hallway, and vanished after turning the corner. Chris couldn't believe it. Up until now, Phoenix had been a pretty quiet guy, practically a push-over compared to him or Snake. But now, he had changed in an instant. He had seen something, or someone, passing through that hall that made him take such risks without a second thought. Chris couldn't help but wonder just what it was that did this to Phoenix. But he knew he didn't have the time to ponder on it.

"...Let's go. He'll be fine, I'm sure." Just like before, there was a sense of doubt in Chris' words. Snake said nothing, and Pichu and Red could only read the atmosphere like an open book. They silently moved along, eventually reaching the elevators that Chris had told them about. One of them was already open. It was like it had been waiting for them all this time. Deciding not to question it, the two men and their monster pals got inside. Chris hit the button for the bottom floor, and the doors slid shut. The suffocatingly heavy atmosphere still resided amongst them. Chris fiddled with his gun, checking the ammo cartridge, while Snake did a little CQC practice by himself. Suddenly, just as they passed the third floor, the elevator stopped.

The doors opened. Iron Man, the current leader of the MvC, stepped inside.


	9. Kirby Vs Akuma 1

"Open your eyes, young one."

Kirby stirred.

"This is no time to be asleep. You have made a commitment to fulfilling your revenge. Wake up, and steel yourself for battle. There is no escaping the fate that you have chosen for yourself. Understand this, and fight with all of your might. I would want nothing less to be expected from my final opponent."

Kirby's eyes opened. He looked around, and realized that he was no longer in the stairwell. Instead, he was now lying on the straw-matted floor of what appeared to be an old Japanese martial arts dojo. The familiar stench of blood and rust hung in the air. Kirby looked across the room, and his eyes grew wide. Ragna was lying on the floor, motionless but returned to his normal state. Sitting cross-legged beside him was none other than Akuma, along with his lone apprentice Ryu. Akuma's right arm was wrapped tightly in bandages, but he had no other visible injuries on his person. It was hard to believe that he really defeated Ragna's inner demons, and he did so without losing any limbs either.

"Do not fear for your friend's life. He has simply been knocked unconscious." Akuma spoke up. It was as if he had been able to read Kirby's thoughts. Although there was little reason to trust the enemy's words, and Kirby knew this, he still couldn't help but believe in Akuma. The fact that Kirby was still alive right now was proof that Akuma was not a trickster or a manipulator like his contemporaries. The giant man could have easily killed the pink alien while he was still asleep, but he did not. Kirby's wounds were also healed.

"Your name...is Kirby, isn't it?"

Akuma received a tiny nod in response.

"You are truly impressive. So many of us have fallen by your hand. I never would have expected someone of your stature could possess such power, but it only goes to show that you cannot judge others solely by their appearance. Many people, including those I have known since the waning days of our organization, are now lying dead in our halls. But I do not hate you for this. You only did what you had to do. And, it pains me to admit this, but the members of this organization have long since gone astray from the correct path. They are filled with greed, lust, and insatiable hatred towards others. It's nothing like how we used to be. I want you to understand things in another light."

Slowly and steadily, Kirby lifted himself back onto his feet. He had his eyes fixated on Akuma and Ryu. Neither of them had reacted to the Popstar warrior's actions so far.

"In the beginning, the MvC's goal had been a noble one: to protect the Earth and its people. We were a small but powerful band, hardly more than seventeen or eighteen people. I was the leader of the first generation of the MvC, and although I allowed the members to make their own decisions, I knew that they were not swayed by the many dark temptations their powers offered to them. As time went on, we gained even more members, an incredible number. I stepped down from my role as the leader and handed my position over to the woman Ruby Heart. I don't think I had ever met a more impressive woman in my entire life. She was not only strong, but incredibly intelligent and charismatic. It was thanks to her that our membership increased to fifty-six in less than a year. She was definitely the perfect person to leave this organization to. That still did not protect her from being found dead a few years later."

Kirby held in a crouch, his body becoming covered in a thick layer of dark-brown fur. Ryu scowled. Akuma continued to speak of the MvC's past.

"We lost many people following the death of Ruby Heart. Her very existence had been the only thing keeping our group together, and it all crumbled apart soon after the funeral. She was far greater than I could have ever been in terms of leadership; we had lost not only a boss, but a part of ourselves. Our group dwindled to a measly number, the third generation, the current one. I decided to offer the chair to the next person I saw fit for the duty: Tony Stark, the Iron Man. He was intelligent and resourceful, not on the same level as Ruby Heart, but still someone I would have trusted with the MvC. For a short time, things went well, but sadly it came to an end when we accepted a slew of new members. But then Iron Man changed. He became darker, more corrupt, and obsessed with obtaining wealth and power. He used most of the group's finances to progress their experiments and research, developing weapons of mass destruction and even living monsters through genetic manipulation. The other members also grew violent and sadistic, a far cry from their usual personalities. They are the ones you have been fighting so far. A pitiful mob of villains and beasts. Not even a shell of the original MvC, or the MvC that Ruby Heart had so painstakingly nurtured. A complete failure."

With his current ability fully activated, Kirby charged for Akuma at full speed. Ryu jumped to his feet with intent of intercepting the blow. However, Akuma held out his arm to stop him. Kirby paid no heed to this action. He leaped as high into the air as he could, and aimed for the martial artist's head. Without missing a beat, Akuma used his other arm to slap Kirby back across the room. He did it as casually as one would swatting a fly.

"Tonight will be the end of everything. I realized that when I heard of your attack on us. I had been unsure of myself until now, but everything is finally clear. You and I shall fight, Kirby. If you win, then I entrust you with finishing what you started and to bring an end to my greatest shame. If I am the victor, then I will take on the burden of eliminating the others. Regardless, by the coming of tomorrow's dawn, the MvC will be no more. This is not something you have a choice in. It has to be done, no matter the circumstances. Do you understand? This is not just about vengeance anymore. This is about hundreds upon thousands of lives!"

Kirby caught himself in mid-flight, skidding to a quick stop. He charged at Akuma again. This time, however, the pink warrior stopped just a few feet short from Akuma's position. He slammed his tiny fist into the floor. The resulting explosion of dust and straw was enough to cause the two martial artists to lose sight of Kirby within the chaos. A few strands of old straw scattered on top of Ragna's unconscious body.

"Master!" Ryu shouted.

"I know." Akuma grunted in reply. Kirby appeared again from behind him. Kirby reared his fist back for another swing; every punch he threw brought to mind memories of the great ape he had once fought alongside with. It filled him with not only rage, but sadness as well. This occurred every time he used his friends' abilities. It was all he had left of them to hold onto. They were all dead.

Akuma didn't attempt to dodge, despite being fully aware of Kirby's sneak attack. He allowed himself to be hit from behind with the full force of the Giant Punch. However, at the second before the impact, Akuma tensed up his back to minimize the overall damage. Kirby's punch connected. Akuma was sent sprawling across the floor, and Ryu finally got his chance to take a swing at the Popstar alien. Kirby caught Ryu's oncoming fist, flung himself over it, and roundhouse kicked the young man in the chest.

Akuma was already back on his feet. In comparison to Ryu, Akuma was faster as well as stronger, and Kirby knew this well. The demon-face man was upon him within seconds. He matched Akuma's oncoming punch with a swing of his own; the collision of fists caused a miniature burst of air to arise from around their bodies. They separated, and returned to trading punches once again. However, it was completely even between them. Each throw was blocked, and the responding counter-attack was also blocked, and so on and so forth. Ryu, unsure of what to do, watched from the sidelines. It was the first time he had witnessed someone keeping up with his master for longer than the first three minutes of battle.

"I am sure you are wondering," Akuma spoke in the middle of an onslaught of punches, "Why I am fighting you if we are both trying to obtain the same thing? It's because, as former leader and now member, I am on the side of the MvC first and foremost. My intentions of destroying the MvC is for the sake of the MvC itself. It is what I do everything for. That is why it is my duty to battle the murderous intruder first, and then deal with putting my beloved creation to rest forever. That is the choice I have made in life."

Akuma shot up his leg from beneath Kirby, who received a lovely knee to the face. Kirby nearly lost consciousness again as a violent ringing filled his head. It wasn't the end, though. With Kirby momentarily disoriented, Akuma grabbed him by the foot and slammed him into the ground, and then kicked him back into the air once more. He finished it off by firing a Hadouken blast, a ball of condensed spirit energy, from his palms. Kirby snapped back to attention just as he was about to be enveloped in the attack. He sprouted dark-blue hair and a headband. He unsheathed a small yellow sword and, with a mighty cry, he swung. The Hadouken was cut clean in half, Kirby falling through the new space opened between it.

Kirby saw both Akuma and Ryu pouncing at him. He grimaced. This was probably going to be the hardest battle he had ever faced.

Immediately donning the falcon helmet, Kirby knocked Ryu out of the way in the blink of an eye. He wanted to make sure to be able to focus solely on Akuma in this fight. If he let his attention go astray even one more time, it could mean the end of him. The two of them stared each other down as they revved up their battered fists for another flurry of punches. But this time, Kirby was just bluffing.

In an instant, he unsheathed a large curved blade, an attack that belonged to him and not a copy of his friends'. He sliced a vertical line at Akuma's torso. Unfortunately, the martial artist stepped backward at the last moment and narrowly avoided his whole chest been torn open. However, his uniform was still ripped, and it tumbled apart on him, fully revealing his muscular physique. Kirby's mouth fell agape.

Both Akuma's stomach and the upper-right side of his chest were covered in gaping, red holes.

"What is the matter?" Akuma asked, "You hesitate, Kirby. We must continue our fight in earnest."

Kirby couldn't believe it. Akuma had been wounded severely in his fight with Ragna, after all. So badly, in fact, that he shouldn't even be alive right now. This entire time, he had been fighting at a disadvantage, ignoring his life-threatening injuries and pushing on for the sake of the MvC and his own desires to fight. And despite this issue, Akuma was able to still pose such a threat to the Popstar warrior.

Kirby was starting to doubt whether or not he could win this.


	10. Kirby Vs Akuma 2

Ryu laid sprawled on the floor, but he was only unconscious. For some reason, just as he was about to hit him away, Kirby made the spontaneous decision to allow him to live. He wasn't entirely sure why he did it, but it may have been because of what Akuma had said to him. The Pop-star warrior was beginning to grow tired of all of this killing. Although he despised the MvC for what they had done, and he still wanted to make them pay, the initial rage that had set him off on this journey was starting to dissipate. He could think more clearly now.

This wasn't just a battle for revenge anymore. This was a battle for his own life, the one that he had chosen to put on the line. Ryu was too weak to pose much of a threat to him, so he didn't need to kill him like he had done with the others. Kirby had to finish this job, but the ones he would kill, they would be the people who had orchestrated the murders of the Super Smashers in the first place. Self-defense was also a good of a reason as any to fight back too. Kirby really wasn't sure what to think anymore.

Akuma's fist deftly grazed Kirby's right cheek, but it was still enough force to knock the pink warrior back a few spaces.

"If you keep spacing out like that, Kirby, you're going to lose!" Akuma barked.

Kirby back-flipped along the matted floorboards, and, after sprouting horns and red hair, spit a ball of fire from his mouth. Akuma calmly slapped it out of his way. He was steadily making his way towards the small fighter, his steps leaving behind heavy imprints. Sprouting a blonde ponytail next, Kirby unsheathed a small laser pistol from behind his back. He fired a laser from the gun's barrel. It was just a shot burst of speed, but in the instant before the beam could have hit him, Akuma shifted himself to the right. He narrowly dodged the attack. Kirby fired again, only for the same thing to reoccur. Before Kirby even realized it, Akuma was already upon him. The ever-hungry fighter was sent flying with a kick to the face. He rolled along like a bag of trash until he was abruptly stopped by a wall.

"On your feet!"

Kirby did as ordered, but this time he was more ready to fight than ever. He donned a set of familiar blue spikes atop his head. Then, in the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between him and Akuma. Kirby promptly switched out the spikes for a blue parka. Kirby hit Akuma in the stomach with his hammer, and while the large man was briefly stunned, he hit him twice more against the chest. Kirby went in for a fourth strike, but this time Akuma was able to counter. He grasped the wooden hammer before it touched his body, and a simple tug shattered the mallet. Akuma used his other hand to grab hold of Kirby before he could escape. He was going to squeeze him until he popped.

Of course, Kirby was prepared for this. He was now wearing a red cap with 'NINTENDO' on it. Akuma found himself staring down the barrel of a new gun, but this one was made out of wood, like the hammer. Kirby pulled the trigger. It was a peanut, not a bullet, that was expelled from the makeshift gun. Akuma caught it in his teeth and swallowed it, shell and all. Kirby gaped.

"Thanks for the meal," he growled with a sneer.

Following after this particular failure, Kirby made up for it by gaining a golden laurel and shooting a celestial arrow straight into Akuma's left eye. It didn't go deep enough to pierce his brain, but it still destroyed the entire eye and prevented it from ever functioning again. Not that he would need it for very long, anyway.

"Gaaah!"

Akuma's grip loosened, and Kirby was able to free himself. He watched for a time as Akuma struggled to carefully remove the arrow from his eye-socket. After eventually realizing the impossibility of doing so, Akuma seemed to suddenly accept the fact that this large, gaudy object was now jutting out of his face. He was even smiling broadly as he looked toward his tiny opponent. However, this was the smile of a demon that was about to strike down its prey for good.

"Impressive; I didn't think you would do something like that," Akuma remarked, blood trickling down his left cheek, "You have a large selection of techniques to use, Kirby. I can see that you're trying to find the one that will best take me down. Even though I commend your efforts, it is still not enough. You will need to try harder if you wish to end me and the MvC...harder than ever."

Suddenly, Akuma's body began to change. Fumes of dark energy poured out of his skin, swirling around him like a veil of smoke. His blood-red hair turned white as snow, and his skin blackened in color. The darkness emitting from him was so strong that it completely evaporated the celestial arrow. Kirby understood now; this was the power that Akuma had used to defeat Ragna's demonic form, and it was what still kept him alive despite his grave injuries. It was a power that only someone who sold their soul to Hades could hope to obtain. Akuma took a step forward. His fist met with Kirby's face, and this time, it hurt far more than before.

Kirby fell, unable to keep standing after such a simple, yet effective, attack. It felt like his very insides were tearing apart, and his muscles were atrophying. Kirby spat out a large wad of his own blood onto the floor. Kirby could barely take in enough oxygen anymore; his head throbbed like crazy. Several times did Kirby try to get back onto his feet, but he found that he could not do it so soon. It would take a few minutes just to get back all of the strength that had been so suddenly sapped from his body. Akuma stood over him, glaring at him with subtle disappointment.

"A single punch at full power was able to do this much to you? I am not sure if I can trust you with this mission any longer, Kirby. It would be better to put you out of your misery now with my greatest technique. I'm sorry."

Akuma's hands began to glow with a radiant, blue energy. Spheres of this same energy began to form in the air around him. One, five, ten, twenty balls of this mystical light hovered over Akuma's head. Kirby coughed again, his body starting to adjust to the pain. He looked upward, saw what was happening, and utilized all of his strength to jump back from the menacing martial artist. The spiritual energy mixed together in the air, spinning and flowing, until it all converged directly into Akuma's left palm. Akuma clenched the fist tightly, and for a second, the blinding energy seemed to vanish.

And then Akuma proceeded to throw it straight at the pink puffball. The ultimate Hadouken; an incredibly massive amount of spiritual power, all packed together into a single blast capable of obliterating just about anything in its path. Kirby could only stare into its very core, this vivid whiteness. None of his friends' abilities were enough to block an attack of this kind of magnitude. He couldn't stop it with punches or kicks, either. For a moment, Kirby thought he was finished. But then he realized that there was still one move he hadn't used yet. It was a ability he had been born with. It was the thing he did best of all.

Kirby opened his mouth. Akuma smiled broadly.

"Show me what you can do! Can you stop this?"

All he could see was white, overwhelming white...and then it sank into darkness.

* * *

Kirby succeeded in stopping it. The Pop-Star denizen caught the entire thing in his mouth, and fired it back as a massive beam. Akuma was hit head-on by his own Hadouken, and he lost consciousness almost immediately after the initial impact.

He woke up a short while later, lying on the floor, a pool of blood forming underneath him. The injuries Kirby had given him and the injuries he had already sustained against Ragna were starting to take effect. He could barely make out the figure of Kirby staring down at him.

"Ha...that didn't go as I had planned..." Akuma laughed. His voice was barely a whisper now. The fight was over, and he had lost. Surprisingly, it didn't leave him feeling as bitter as he had expected. It may have been because he knew that Kirby would be able to make things right. He could stop whatever Iron Man was planning, and save the innocents, and put down this organization of his that had grown so corrupt. Akuma, as his life started to slip away, felt an odd sense of satisfaction about everything.

"You did...a good job, Kirby..."

Kirby continued to stare at him with deep pity in his eyes.

"My ultimate attack...no one was ever able to knock it back at me like that before...I only survived because of my strength, but even then I'll still have to die...that's the way things are...I lived far longer than a normal man thanks to the dark power I acquired, but now, it's time to put it all to rest..."

Akuma made a small gesture with his left hand. The wall behind Kirby shifted to the right, revealing a hidden passageway.

"You have to go down there, Kirby...the ones responsible for the murders of your friends...they're waiting. I overheard it from Wesker that it's not just the MvC, but it was an inside job too...one of your own had helped them...a traitor..."

Kirby's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Go now...confront them...and leave me be."

Kirby nodded. He grabbed the still-unconscious Ragna and dragged him along, unwilling to simply leave him behind. Kirby took one final look at Akuma's motionless form before he continued onward. He ate what was left of his Maxim Tomato, and gave a piece to Ragna as well.

This night of revenge was almost at its end.


	11. Pichu Vs Iron Man 1

An hour ago, at the same time that Kirby was locked in combat with Akuma, another battle was also taking place. It only seemed fitting that both fights would involve the first and the last leaders of the MvC organization.

"Chris Redfield..."

Iron Man's filtered voice rumbled in the lightest of threatening tones. Chris, Snake, Pichu and the Pikmin Red kept their backs pressed against the opposing wall. Iron Man made the briefest of head movements as he acknowledged the three figures accompanying the traitor. The soft glow from his mask's 'eye-sockets' almost made it seem like he was looking into their very beings. In fact, that probably was what it was doing. There was no information on these three within the MvC's database, and that told Iron Man that they were an unknown element in the mix.

"Who are these people?" he asked.

Keeping his eyes fixed on Iron Man, Chris slowly moved a hand toward the gun hilt on his pant leg. "Sir...these people...they're here to help me deal with the problem of the intruders. A special team that I called in myself. I hope that you don't mind me having done so."

"No, not at all. We could always use more help. These intruders are particularly strong; many of us have fallen to them so far." Iron Man replied, and then he added, "But, may I ask why you are reaching for your Desert Eagle pistol right now?"

Chris froze.

"Redfield, your words are not matching with your actions. Explain yourself."

"I..." Chris didn't know what he could say. Once Iron Man had seen through an attempt at deception, it was near-impossible to trick him again. He was a man that had to be dealt with extreme care; akin to treading through a field of buried landmines while having a pistol pressed to your head. Chris cringed when he realized that such a situation was probably more preferable than having Iron Man staring him down. He had seen Iron Man in action before, and that robotic suit of his made him damn near-invincible. Not even missiles were able to dent the scarlet-red armor. There had to be some way out of this.

"Chris." Iron Man was growing impatient.

"I'm going to look for Tron Bonne, and take her away from the premises. She is one of our top scientists, and we cannot risk allowing her to die at the hands of the intruders. I am taking out my pistol because we'll be reaching the bottom floor, and I need to be prepared for any enemies." Chris blurted out, having just made it all up on the spot. It was an excuse, but a sensible excuse. Tron really was an important member of the organization, and it was only right to keep her alive too. Iron Man acknowledged this 'plan' with a light nod of his head.

"That is a good idea; Ms. Bonne is very important to our cause."

Chris smiled weakly, and nodded back. He just realized something. For a long time now, Iron Man had been speaking in a strange manner. His voice was almost always monotone, and he seemed to address people in a cold and calculating manner, as if everything was read in sheets of numbers. It was less like a human, and more like-

"Chris, what is that man behind you doing?"

Snake aimed his portable, remote-controlled missile launcher at the wall across from him. "C'mon, we're getting out of here!" he boldly shouted just as he pulled the trigger. Chris tried to stop him, but it was too late by then.

The elevator rattled with violent tremors, a gaping hole blown open in its side. It was amazing that it hadn't snapped right off of the cables; it still held together, but just barely now. The elevator continued to rock back and forth at an unsteady pace. Despite this issue, Snake wasn't one to waste any time; he grabbed Chris by the arm, and forcefully dragged him through the gaping 'escape route'. Just before disappearing below, Snake threw a live grenade over his shoulder, it landing right at Iron Man's feet. Snake and Chris tumbled down the elevator shaft until they crash-landed atop the roof of the other elevator. The sound of the grenade going off was a dull echo. Smoke and flames gushed from the first elevator's 'wound'.

Chris pushed Snake away, shouting, "Dammit, Snake...at least warn me or something before you do that! What were you thinking? You could have killed us all!"

"I've met people like him before. He was going to kill us regardless of what you said. He was just humoring you." Snake explained. He wiped off the dust covering his face, and took out a small, black object. It looked like a box, but Snake began to open it, unfolding it like a kind of paper fortune.

"What? How can you even tell that?"

"He had been collecting energy in his palm for an attack ever since he saw you going for your gun. Didn't you notice?"

"..." Chris was speechless. He hadn't noticed. He was so busy staring at the man's 'face' that he didn't bother to pay any attention to the rest of him. Chris sighed. He was accustomed to dealing with the brainless and mindless undead, not all of these freaking mutants and superheroes. It wasn't his forte. He looked over at Snake's shoulder, and his jaw dropped.

"Uh, Snake...?"

"What is it? We need to get out of here as soon as we can!"

"Pichu and that little flower-guy thing are missing."

Snake reached behind his back, and sure enough, he did not feel Pichu's soft, smooth fur on his fingertips.

"Shit!"

* * *

Pichu could hardly breathe, the smoke filling his lungs every time he opened his mouth. He tried to look around, but the smoke continued to be an obstruction. Pichu coughed. He didn't know how, but at some point during the escape, he had fallen off of Snake's back. Pichu glanced to his right and saw the little Pikmin named Red sitting there. He was still alive, but he was too stunned to move. Pichu lifted him up onto his back; they needed to get out of this elevator as soon as possible. It must have been made of incredibly strong materials to not be devastated from a grenade explosion like that. But then again, Snake's grenades were always rather weak. Nonetheless, this also called up another good question, Pichu realized. Just how are they still alive right now?

Iron Man revealed himself through the misty veil, his red and yellow suit covered with minor scratches. Pichu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The former superhero had protected them from the blast with his own body, albeit unintentionally. Iron Man stared at him, and Pichu stared back. For a moment, that was all they could do. And then Iron Man held out his palm, and it started to glow brightly.

"I don't know what you two are supposed to be," he said, "But you're obviously the enemy. Die."

Pichu saw a white flash, and he knew he had to move. Right now. He leaped to his right just as the sphere of intense heat flew over his head. Another hole was blown open within the poor, helpless elevator, which just made things worse for its occupants. The shaking was just about unbearable. Pichu knew he was doomed whether he stayed inside the elevator or not as long as Iron Man was aiming at him. Iron Man was already powering up another beam from his palm. Covering his tiny body in a light veil of electricity to cushion his fall, Pichu jumped out of the newly made hole. However, he didn't make it far.

"You aren't going anywhere."

Pichu yelped, his tail caught firmly in Iron Man's grasp. The yellow rodent attempted to tug his way free but soon realized that attempting to do so further could rend him tailless. It wasn't unexpected that the super-advanced robotic suit would possess such a powerful grip. Pichu could feel his tail heating up; Iron Man was going to blow it apart, along with everything attached to it. Pichu could not even rely on his own electric powers, due to them being so weak.

This would never have happened to his brother, Pichu thought to himself. His brother, Pika Pikachu the First, was a true hero. After having gained much strength and experience in his travels with his former trainer, Pichu's brother went on to be one of the original Smashers and had kept his place as one of the group's strongest up until this very point. He was incredibly fast, even powerful enough to fight monsters like Bowser and Ganondorf, yet still keeping himself modest all at the same time. Pichu's eyes filled with tears. Why did these bastards have to kill his brother? It made him so angry. He saw Snake and Chris below him, but they wouldn't be able to get here in time. And now Pichu was going to die too.

Suddenly, the Pokemon felt something arise from deep inside of him. It was a strange power that he had never known before. It was brief. However, it gave him the burst of strength that he needed at that moment. One second, Iron Man had Pichu captured and helpless. A second later, and Pichu was gone. Iron Man stuck his head out from the hole and looked upward. Pichu was scaling the side of the elevator. Somehow, it had been able to use Quick Attack to slip away in time. Iron Man didn't like this, not one bit.

Pichu reached the top of the elevator without any trouble. Suddenly, right in front of it, a beam of light erupted forth like a geyser. Pichu ran around it and kept going. The wire that kept the elevator aloft was his destination. Pichu climbed and climbed; down below he could hear the sound of Iron Man bashing his way out of the elevator for good. It would take some time before Snake and Chris could rejoin the fight. Pichu wanted to be a hero, just like his brother. He was going to stake his life on keeping Iron Man's attention so he could be defeated from behind. He just hoped Red wouldn't mind taking part in this convoluted plan.

Iron Man's fist came in out of nowhere, hitting Pichu hard across the face. It was like coming into contact with a speeding truck. Blood spurted from Pichu's nose, and he nearly lost consciousness. His throat was aflame with acid reflux. The tiny creature was sent reeling through the air, completely open for his enemy to pulverize. Another punch from Iron Man knocked Pichu through a set of closed elevator doors. Lying in the rubble of shattered steel doors, Pichu could barely stand. He had been able to soften the blow with his lightning, but that wasn't enough. His entire body was ravaged with severe pain; every nerve in his body was screaming agonizingly. For the others, this may have been a painful blow, but Pichu was too small and light to handle most attacks. His body was as fragile as glass, just another thing to add to a long, long list of problems.

Iron Man approached him. Pichu despised himself; he had thought he made a successful escape, but all he did was prolong his imminent death.

But a part of him still wasn't willing to give up just yet.


	12. Pichu Vs Iron Man 2

Pichu wanted to keep fighting, but his body wasn't agreeing with him. He had suffered a considerable amount of injuries; it was far too much for his tiny body to handle. Red was doing everything he could to help his friend, trying to clean the blood with the leaf on his head and cry words of encouragement, but it was all useless. Pichu's full attention was currently focused on the man looming over him. The man who was about to casually steal away his life without a second thought.

Iron Man stuck out his hand, palm open. The cavity in his palm began to glow with a bright, blinding light.

"You had a sudden bout of luck back there, but it hardly did you any good. You are weak, far weaker than those friends of yours that we killed. Your attacks do no damage, your body cannot handle being hit, and you are not fast enough to evade me for much longer than a minute or two. It's really pathetic, to be honest,"

Pichu gritted his teeth. He was used to these kinds of insults, but hearing it from this man in particular enraged him like nothing else. Unfortunately, all he could really do was just sit there and take it, helpless. Waiting for the talking to finally cease and his life along with it.

"The one that I saw at the mansion who looked similar in appearance to you...I would assume you two are related in some way, or are at least in the same species. If so, you're just a child risking his life for a cause that he can't even fully understand. I would feel sorry for you if I could. One that wants to fight but who has no place on the battlefield. You should have picked a different profession, just like that little rat I blew the head off of. He hardly knew what was happening before I struck. I guess he was one of the weaker ones as well."

Pichu's eyes widened. The image of this man blowing off his beloved brother's head was a horrifying one. But not only that, he called his brother 'weak' and a 'little rat'. His big brother, the role model and only family member of his life, was better than that. Pichu attempted to stand up again, but crumbled underneath a broken arm and a pair of listless legs. It even hurt just to sob, but Pichu did it anyway. He couldn't do anything to save himself or avenge his brother and all of his dead friends.

Suddenly, in this deep dank pit of despair, Pichu looked between Iron Man's legs toward the elevator shaft.

His eyes widened again, but this time for another reason.

It was Solid Snake and Chris Redfield. They were holding on tightly to one of Snake's Cyphers, a saucer-type unmanned aerial vehicle. For some reason, Snake had always used them to fly himself back onto the stage during brawl fights, even though the machine had been designed specifically for surveillance. Nonetheless, Pichu had never felt so glad to see it in his entire life.

With his free hand Snake held a Maxim Tomato, just the thing Pichu needed to heal his injuries. Chris had the remote-controlled missile launcher suited onto his shoulder. They knew what they needed to do.

"Red, give this to Pichu right away!" Snake shouted at the top of his lungs.

As expected, Iron Man spun around in reaction to the noise. He was instantly hit in the face and chest by a barrage of tiny missiles. His body rattled violently with each explosion. Against an opponent like this, reserving ammo wasn't an option; Chris didn't hesitate as he fired away again and again. Fire and smoke covered every inch of Iron Man's body, his form slowly being wrapped in a thick blanket of gray and orange. At the moment, Iron Man was kept completely immobilized by the onslaught.

Snake and Chris went in a little closer, and the former Fox-Hound operative threw the Maxim Tomato. It flew over Iron Man's head; Red caught it just before it hit the ground. Scurrying back to his friend, the Pikmin quickly fed a few tiny pieces to Pichu. Pichu's strength gradually started to return, just as expected. The Maxim Tomato's incredible healing properties were mending not only his outer-wounds, but also the damaged organs and broken bones inside of his body as well. Pichu slowly lifted himself back onto all fours, face covered in dirt and blood but the pain now gone. He grabbed hold of the remaining Maxim Tomato and ate it all. Red was tear-eyed with relief.

"Enough!" Iron Man's voice was gruff with rage now. He stepped out of the flaming smoke; his armor was further dented and scarred, but he still wasn't even close to going down just yet. All it really did was just make him angrier than before. Snake swore under his breath. Iron Man raised his hand, firing a beam of energy at the Cypher. The machine exploded, and once more the two men were plummeting down the elevator shaft. Iron Man immediately turned back around to confront the fully-healed Pichu and his Pikmin companion. This time, he didn't bother wasting time by talking aloud.

He fired another beam. Pichu jumped to his right, avoiding it. Now that he had eaten the Maxim Tomato, the tiny Pokemon felt like all of his senses had been suddenly heightened. For some reason, he felt like he might really be able to do this now. With Snake and Chris out of commission, it was all left for him to take care of this guy once and for all, anyway.

"Well, you're looking far more confident than you should be. What was the point of healing yourself if you're just going to get beaten again!" Iron Man barked. Beams of light began to form on the tips of each of his ten fingers now. Pichu prepared himself; he could think clearly now. Iron Man fired. Instead of going left or right or even up, Pichu went the one way that he knew would be the most protected path: forward. He charged straight at Iron Man as the waves of lasers grazed past his massive ears. Pichu understood that Iron Man was accustomed with long-range fighting, so it was best to catch him off-guard by getting right up and personal. As soon as he determined he was close enough, Pichu sprung forth. He smashed his own head against Iron Man's lower jaw, a Headbutt attack. Iron Man momentarily staggered, so Pichu followed this up with an Iron Tail attack against his chest. Iron Man finally collapsed onto his back; Pichu's attacks, combined with the earlier damage done from the missile attack, were enough to wear him down for this.

Pichu darted back to Red's side, steeling himself for what was to come. Iron Man was probably going to get back up. And he did.

"Alright, I'm wasting too much time on a rat like you. Just to make sure I kill you for good this time, I'll have to rely on the ultimate cannon."

Iron Man's entire armor began to alter its shape. Large sections of the armor came unhinged, causing puffs of steam to blow out. The shoulder pads spread apart like makeshift wings, like an angel of death's. The shining sphere in the middle of his chest jutted outward to reveal itself as a small cannon. Pichu gasped; this was obviously going to be an attack far beyond anything else Iron Man had done so far. The beam inside of it was slowly emerging. The end result was likely to destroy the entire hallway, Pichu and all. Even worse, there was nothing that Pichu could do to stop the attack; his electric attacks were far too weak.

Suddenly, Pichu felt a tiny hand on his shoulder. It was Red, the Pikmin.

Pichu looked back at him, and instantly he saw the strong conviction in the diminutive creature's eyes. It was the kind of conviction that went beyond Pichu's own. It was the full willingness to die for those that he cared about. The other Pikmin that followed Captain Olimar had that same sort of look in their eyes when following him into battle. But now they were all dead, and Red was the one left behind.

"Pi..." Pichu could understand what his friend was trying to tell him, just from eyes alone. The only way to stop Iron Man's cannon was to clog it at the source. They only had one thing that was small enough to fit inside, however. Red nodded his head. Pichu could feel the hot tears rolling down his cheeks. Although they hadn't known each other for long, Pichu had grown to really like the little shared much in common, in both size and their weakness. The realization of not being able to help those they cared most about, and the crushing sense of failure that came along with it.

He almost wanted to disagree with the plan, because it would only make the remaining Smashers even smaller, but he knew there was no other choice. If Iron Man continued to run the MvC, who knows how many other people would die underneath his cruelty. Defeating him meant a great victory for the lost lives at the Smash Mansion, and many others. Pichu understood all of this, which is why he had to take on this painful and difficult course of action.

Still sobbing profusely, Pichu picked up Red by the stem of his leaf. The Pikmin thanked him for making this choice. After all, like most Pikmin, it was probably his destiny to be thrown at or into something anyway. This was just all apart of the course of life. No need to put meaningless conjecture into it.

Pichu charged straight towards Iron Man once more. The white light was filling the entire room at this point; they only had seconds left. Iron Man wasn't making any attempt to stop them, so it was safe to assume that using the cannon forced him to remain stationary for the time being. All the better for Pichu and Red. If Red could get inside and damage at least some of the machinery involved, it was likely to be able to stop the cannon. It was risky, but it was their only shot.

Pichu was able to aim perfectly despite the tears blurring his vision. He threw Red with all of his might. The Pikmin became engulfed in the blinding light as he tumbled through the air. For some reason, he felt a little happy. He was finally doing something useful for his friends. He wondered if Captain Olimar would be proud of him for doing something like this, if it was for the sake of the others.

Pichu could not pull his eyes away as he saw what happened next. It was like witnessing a fireworks display up close. Iron Man's body was bursting apart from the inside, starting with the canon itself. Pieces of armor flew off, sparks flickered, waves of black smoke filled the air, but not a single drop of blood, even though his body was being cooked alive and popping like an overfilled balloon. In fact, instead of blood, there seemed to be some oil. Iron Man howled, a strange, scratching noise that was far from human in sound. Pichu watched with solemn feelings as the leader of the MvC finally collapsed for good.

He cautiously approached, but what he saw was shocking enough. Iron Man was just a machine; a robot that had been designed in the same likeness. That meant that the real Iron Man had never been here in the first place. Which just brought up the question of where he was at all.

But that wasn't much to worry about for the young Pokemon right now. First, he needed to find Snake and Chris. They were far too tough to have been killed by a drop like that. He could properly mourn for Red and everyone else once this battle against the MvC had reached its end.

Some time later, after arriving at the bottom o the elevator shaft, Pichu met up with the two men again. It seemed that a secret passageway had been discovered. One that would lead them to the deepest point of the headquarters, right down by the laboratories, if Chris had assumed their location correctly. Thus, the three-man group proceeded to head inside, unaware of what was waiting for them at the end.


	13. Phoenix Wright Vs Iron Fist

Phoenix Wright was desperately out of breath by the time he finally stopped running. He wiped the sweat from his brow; the reason he was sweating was only partially due to his little trek through the halls. He wiped his face again. He was sweating because, right around the corner, was the one man he was willing to kill to defeat. The man who held the information of Maya Fey's location, Iron Fist.

Phoenix had disliked Iron Fist from the very moment they met. There was something incredibly eerie and inhuman about the man, as if the moral structure that belonged to all human beings had been inexplicably stripped from him. He knew well how he had a fondness of fighting female opponents; he would rape them as a punishment for their loss, regardless of whether they were dead or writhing in pain. He was truly one of the more vile members of the MvC, an entirely contemptible being. Even worse, he was strong. Ridiculously strong. Of course, he would have to be, considering he's called 'Iron Fist'.

'But...if I'm going to save Maya, I have to defeat him... I have to!' Phoenix told himself. However, that still didn't stop his hands from shaking. He was afraid. He was afraid of how easily Iron Fist could shatter his skull, or snap his legs, or dislocate his ribcage. But he was even more afraid of knowing what he may have done to Maya. It was all his fault that Maya was being held captive by them; it was because he had let himself get pushed into helping this tyrannical group in committing its atrocious deeds. Phoenix could never forgive himself if Maya got hurt on his account. He had to save her any way he could. And that meant facing Iron Fist in combat. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"Iron Fist!"

The masked man turned to face him. "Hmm? That you, bird-boy?"

For just a few seconds, Phoenix felt an incredible rush of adrenaline. He ran with a speed that he didn't even know he possessed. He reached into his suit pocket, and threw a handful of papers into Iron Fist's face. Because this assault came so suddenly, the man had little time to properly react, and he was left wide open. Iron Fist's mind hadn't registered what was occurring just yet. He never would have expected the weak attorney to try and fight him like this. Phoenix took another deep breath and unleashed the strongest yell he could muster.

"TAKE THAT!"

The force of his yell sent Iron Fist flying backwards like a leaf caught in the wind. He flew across the hallway and out a nearby window, coating his body in thousands of tiny glass shards, before he finally came to a stop in the outer-garden, where MODOK was known to grow his daffodils. Phoenix followed after him; that first attack had really worn him out already, just because of how much strength he put into it. That first attack was probably going to be his strongest one, so he just hoped that it proved its effectiveness. Phoenix took the stairs to go down to the first floor, since they had been on the third floor. He found Iron Fist lying motionless atop MODOK's rows of daffodils. Suddenly, Iron Fist sat up, and Phoenix stepped back in surprise, even though he was expecting this to happen.

"You...what the hell are you doing? Don't tell me...you've finally grown some balls, huh? I know you never liked me, and I never liked you, but I didn't expect you to try and take the first swing." Iron Fist was always a bit of a blabbermouth.

"Daniel," Phoenix had never used Iron Fist's real name before, "I want you to tell me where Maya is. Right now."

"Hmph, do you ever think for a second, bird-boy?" Likewise, Iron Fist never referred to Phoenix by his real name, "You fuckin' come out of nowhere, send me flying out a window, and THEN you start giving me orders? Just who," he started to get back onto his feet, "Do you think you're talking to? Huh?"

Phoenix thrust back down the fear that swelling inside of him. All he felt now was determination. "Tell me where Maya is, Daniel."

"I've always wanted a chance to bash your head in, but I knew I'd get in trouble with the higher-ups if I did! But with all the crazy shit going down lately, I'm sure they won't blame me at all if you turn up dead, right?"

"Tell me where Maya is, Daniel!"

"Why do you keep asking that? Who cares about that little whore?" Iron Fist started to charge. Phoenix stood his ground.

"TELL ME WHERE MAYA IS, DANIEL!"

"Shut up! Stop calling me 'Daniel', you cock-sucker!"

Iron Fist swung, his clenched fist moving through the air like a giant bullet. Phoenix knew he wouldn't be able to take many hits full-on, but with Iron Fist, he might not have much of a choice. Phoenix quickly twisted himself around so his right arm would take the hit instead of his face, and he unleashed another mighty shout from the depths of his soar throat.

"OBJECTION!" Phoenix screamed at the same time as Iron Fist's punch collided with his shoulder. Although it sent the masked ruffian back a few feet, Phoenix grit his teeth, trying to keep from screaming again over the burning agony he felt. From that one hit alone, his left arm from the shoulder down to his wrist had been left unusable. Iron Fist possessed powers that went beyond mortal humans like him. There was nothing Phoenix could do to make his arm move, lest he face even more blinding pain. It was enough to knock him out cold, but he couldn't let that happen either.

"Ha...ha ha...just look at you. Do you even realize what you've gotten yourself into?" Iron Fist chuckled to himself, brushing dirt off of his suit so casually. It infuriated Phoenix to see him so unharmed and carefree while Maya was probably suffering in the cold, her body having been violently ravaged by this horrible person. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. This was the sort of thing a defense lawyer like him was meant to fight against.

"You better not...have hurt Maya..." Phoenix gasped.

"You're just a human, a regular everyday person," Iron Fist continued, "But me, I have been gifted special power. Power that puts me far beyond people like you. I'm super-human. Obviously, there's no way that someone of a lower class like yourself can do anything against someone like me, a being of a higher 're wasting both your time and your life, bird-boy. But I'm not going to let you get away with just a punch to the head to put you out of your misery; I'm going to have my fun and break everything below the neck before I put an end to you!"

"Maya..."

"Stop talking about her already, for crying out loud! Just give up already!"

Once again, Iron Fist charged. Phoenix used his good arm to reach into his pant pocket, and wrapped his fingers tightly around a small, round object. The object that he had carried on his person since the day he became an attorney at law. He only had one chance to do this right.

Iron Fist came in closer this time, aiming to deal some damage to Phoenix's ribs. Phoenix whisked out his Attorney's Badge from his pocket, and pressed it directly against Iron Fist's eyes. Despite its unassuming appearance, Phoenix's badge was quite sharp around the edges. He swiped the badge across Iron Fist's face, blinding him in one fell swoop. Globs of blood poured down the man's face, his howls piercing the cool night sky. At the same time, his fist still reached its target, and Phoenix felt the air get knocked from his lungs. He could literally hear the bottom half of his ribcage snapping apart like twigs. Using what little strength he still possessed at that moment, Phoenix raised his good arm and punched Iron Fist square in the jaw. Then the two men collapsed together.

"Haah...haah..." Phoenix could hardly breathe; one of the snapped rib pieces was probably puncturing his lung. He didn't know where he found the power to do so, but he was able to lift himself up a little. He saw Iron Fist lying beside him, clutching his face and whispering streams of curses under his breath. Phoenix sighed. He dragged himself around so he could more easily stare down at the wounded 'hero', and proceeded to give him one more good punch, knocking him out. It seemed that, when in such a agonizing situation, Iron Fist's defenses fell short. In the end, he was just as human as Phoenix was.

"I did it...I won..." Phoenix felt like the thousands of thorns digging into his back since that fateful day were finally removed, and all the wounds had healed over. His guilt and shame was dissipating in this new sense of hope filling his heart. Tears began to sting his eyes. "Maya...I can really save you now...we can go back to working at Wright Law Offices again,"

"Sorry, but you won't be seeing Maya ever again."

Albert Wesker pulled the trigger of his gun, and Phoenix Wright ceased to be, a smoking bullet hole in the back of his head. Wesker also fired a bullet into Iron Fist for good measure; he didn't need him around anymore if he failed to even defeat someone as weak as Phoenix. Wesker knelt down beside the two corpses, and picked up Phoenix's blood-stained badge from the ground. It was covered in Iron Fist's blood. Smirking to himself, Wesker shoved the badge into his coat. He walked away without looking back at the bodies he left behind. Everything was going according to plan. The bodies were piling, Kirby and his friends were moving forward, and so much blood was being spilled. Wesker's eerie smile grew wider.

'Project Galactus is almost finished...' he thought to himself.

* * *

Kirby had been dragging Ragna for some time, and the white-haired young man had yet to awake. However, the pink warrior did not let this perturb him. For the sake of his fallen comrades, he had to keep moving. He was able to see a light up ahead, and beyond that light appeared to be a large room, at least as wide and spacious as an indoor gymnasium. He quickened his pace.

Eventually he reached the door, and stepping through it, Kirby was surprised to see that the room was even larger than he had initially expected; it was dome-shaped in its appearance, and yet there didn't seem to be anything around to fill so much extra room. For more reasons than one, it worried him; it seemed like a prime place for an enemy to attack, after all. He glanced around, and saw there was another door a few feet away. Snake, Chris and Pichu came walking out a few seconds later.

Kirby gasped.

"Huh?" Snake looked, and his eyes grew wide, "...Kirby?"

"Pi!" Pichu leaped from his roost on the man's shoulder and practically tackled the puffball, overjoyed to see his fellow Smasher. Kirby, likewise, had tears streaming down his face. While Snake and Pichu already knew that Kirby was inside the MvC headquarters, Kirby himself had no idea. He had believed himself to be the last Smasher still alive (aside from the long-defected Mewtwo and Roy). To see at least two of his dear friends still alive was enough to cause him to break down crying. Although he was not the most sentimental man, Snake went over and gave Kirby a gentle pat on the head. Pichu was crying now too.

As he left the three to enjoy their reunion for a moment, Chris looked around the spacious room. Suddenly he saw that they were not alone in here.

"Guys...sorry to interrupt, but we have company."

Snake and Kirby turned their attention to where Chris was pointing. Kirby felt like his heart had just skipped a beat. Standing there, in the very center of the room, was the traitor responsible for the downfall of the Smashers and for inciting all of this chaos in the first place. It was a young boy with black hair, wearing a cap and red and blue clothes. His eyes were drawn to the floor in front of him, almost as if he were ashamed to look his former comrades in the face now.

"P.T..." Snake murmured to himself. He had suspected it all along.


	14. The Truth And The Horror

"Congratulations. You've all made it here...well, you're still missing one, but I suppose that's alright."

Kirby and the others stiffened as they saw a figure step out of the doorway on the other side of the room, slowly approaching up from behind the motionless PT. It was Albert Wesker. Although a momentary sense of horrified awe struck the group, Chris didn't waste much time afterward standing around doing nothing. He quickly took out his Desert Eagle and began firing at Wesker from afar.

"Wesker!"

Wesker stood completely still. In a move that would have been impossible for any normal human to perform, he removed a small metal object from his coat pocket and swiftly used it to catch each and every bullet that came zipping towards him. It did not take long before Chris's gun was left firing blanks while Wesker was completely unharmed. Smirking, he tossed the object over to a stunned Chris. Despite the many bullets lodged in its surface, Chris recognized the object immediately; it was Phoenix's attorney badge, coated in blood. He dropped his gun, horrified.

"Oh no..." Chris gritted his teeth; he had really hoped that Phoenix would make it out alive with the rest of them. He had lost many friends and squad-mates alike in the past, especially during his history as a founding member of the BSAA. Phoenix's death, despite the short time they knew each other, was no less upsetting than the soldiers who had bravely died fighting against the B.O.W.s. Despite the inner turmoil raging about from within, Chris acted calmly as he picked up the badge into his gloved hand. He would have to give it to Maya once he found her, for Phoenix's sake.

Wesker chuckled softly under his breath; it was a cold, empty chuckle devoid of any real emotion.

"Chris Redfield...that expression on your face is the reason I keep going on. I want to see you with your arms and legs torn off, your eyeballs gouged out, your tongue sliced, and your genitals crushed into pieces. I want you to watch as I slowly torture and murder every single person that ever meant a damn to you in your life, from your family to your friends to your acquaintances. You will hear them scream out your name, cursing you for this horrible fate that you have brought on them. And I want you, as you are slowly dying in a pool of your own blood and excrement in utter defeat, to finally give in and admit that I am your superior in every single way. And for that is exactly why I have brought this boy here to our headquarters." He pat PT on the shoulder, and the boy trembled like a thin piece of timber. He had yet to take his eyes off of his own two feet.

Snake took out his remote-controlled missile launcher. Unfortunately, even though PT had left him for dead, Snake couldn't risk firing with Wesker standing so close to him like that. PT was just a kid; there had to be a real reason behind everything he had done. Wesker laughed again.

"Yes, it would be rather unfortunate if you fired now, wouldn't it? This boy...he wouldn't be able to run away even if he wanted to. By this point after his daily dose of drugs and chemicals, he's left in a state of waking sleep, I suppose you could say. But, now, it's time for him to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes and get to work."

Wesker unveiled a small needle with a dark-red fluid inside. He quickly injected it into the boy's neck.

"Stop! What you doing to him?" Chris shouted.

"I'm just giving the boy what he wanted all along. The very thing that he ended up betrating his comrades and his own Pokemon for. Power. His worthlessness as a member of the Smash Bros., his lack of real strength compared to everyone else there, his lost name and memories...it was incredibly easy to manipulate his fragile psyche, and get him into believing that riding the world of all of you was the right thing. He was so kind as to provide me with many of the blood samples I needed for my final experiment, as well."

"Wesker...you...you bastard...he's just a child!"

"He's no longer a child, Chris Redfield. He is something much more now." Wesker's eyes flashed briefly behind the dark glasses. His pupils were the color of blood. "He is a weapon meant to kill all of you who try to get in my way."

PT's body began to glow with some kind of ominous blue energy. Kirby, Snake and Pichu recognized it; it was Lucario's aura. His shirt exploded from the back as massive wings made from bones and tendons emerged. His right arm started to tremble violently, and long flesh-colored tentacles were sprouting all over. His left arm was swelling to an outrageous size. PT's face was also warping to the point of no longer resembling a human being. His jaw cracked and sank back into his skull, his glazed eyes bulged wide, and his ears stretched back into horns. His left arm had become a giant club-like appendage, and his left arm looked like a throbbing bush. His feet had become swollen and clawed, covered in thick blue fur. Another head was forming on his back that vaguely resembled a fleshy, eyeless Charizard. Two faces, Squirtle's and Ivysaur's, were growing on PT's chest.

The vomit-inducing sounds of his entire skeletal structure shifting to such a degree was too much. Not a trace of the original PT remained after the first four minutes. In fact, he was beginning to resemble some kind of nightmarish pokemon. Kirby and the others could only stare on in abject horror as the mutation continued.

"I'm in a good mood tonight, Chris, so I believe I shall fill you in with everything you'd want to know before you all die here." Wesker explained, "You see, I have been the one in control of the MvC for some time now. The real Iron Man has long been dead. I attempted to control his mind and use his intellect via the palagas, but it proved too damaging on his mind, thus Tony Stark was driven insane and died shortly afterward. I had to use what notes were left over to continue, and I used a droid designed in his likeness to put up the guise of him still living. I used mental conditioning and less-developed palagas to warp the minds of the other members of the MvC, and turned them into a vicious and violent group with little regard for morals. I used them to kill the Smash Bros. after I had filled their mansion with a special gas that neutralized their strength and left them helpless. It is a shame that I left some alive, inadvertantely, but I have collected more than enough DNA. I thank you anyway for coming to offer your blood to me so kindly, my friends. And killing the MvC as well. I certainly couldn't get rid of all of them myself. And now, there is just one last phase for my Project Galactus to begin. You're about to witness the dawn of a new age, Chris Redfield. I plan to welcome this new age with your death."

"Wesker...you really do like to talk way too much..." Chris truly wished he could fire a few hundred bullets into the other man's smug face.

"Indeed, I suppose you could consider that one of my faults." Wesker smiled dryly.

The twisted, mutaliated beast that was once PT unleashed a blood-curdling howl. His transformation was complete, and he stood a good three feet over Wesker in his current size, and he held pose similiar to a gorilla's by using his gigantic arms to keep himself upright. It screamed in rage once again, and a burst of electric energy exploded off of its bubbling skin. Pichu gasped. Wesker smiled broadly at this grotesque sight, as if he were just witnessing a miracle in the act.

"Do you see now? What amazing things I can create, thanks to my genius?"

"Wesker!"

Suddenly, it happened. The sound of glass shattering from above, and in an instant, a cloaked figure landed gracefully in front of the cackling villain. Wesker had no time to react. Before he knew what had happened, he was hit. He felt an intense pain shoot up vertically across his chest, and he became doused in his own blood. A blade had cut him. Wesker only coughed as he staggered backwards, more blood gushing from the deep wound. The robbed figure removed his cloak to reveal himself. Only Snake knew him. That robotic suit, the messy white hair, the stance...it all came back to him in a flood of memories.

"Raiden!" Snake had never imagined he would see this man again.

The cyborg ninja gave his friend and mentor the briefest of glances over his shoulder. "I'll take care of this one, Snake. You can leave it to me. The others are here as well, and we're here to help you."

PT screeched, and it made a charge straight for Kirby and the others.


	15. Allies

Desperately attempting to cover a wound too large with his shaking hand, Wesker started to cough. "PT...kill them all! Now! Especially...especially Chris!" He was cut off by Raiden thrusting his sword through his lower abdomen. Wesker's blood splattered all over the floor beneath them, it fell with the pitter-patter that usually came with the rain. Raiden shifted the blade a little to the left, digging deeper into the man's internal organs.

"Gah...ahh..."

"Hmph...you have the mind of a monster, but your body is only human..." Raiden coldly remarked. After being informed by Otacon about everything Wesker had orchestrated, he couldn't help but feel extreme contempt towards this demon of a man. He was not someone who could be allowed to continue living, lest thousands of innocents suffer under his cruel and sadistic hand.

"No..." Wesker smiled through blood-stained teeth, "Not yet...but it looks like I won't be able to witness Chris's death with my own eyes after all."

"What?"

Suddenly, a plump flesh-colored tentacle emerged from Wesker's backside, and it struck at Raiden. The cyborg ninja ducked to the side just in time to avoid the sudden attack, but he accidentally loosened his grip on the embedded blade as a result. Wesker delivered a swift kick to Raiden's leg, knocking him back, and hobbled away through the door behind him. Raiden, swearing under his breath, tried to catch up, but the door was locked tight. He might have been able to slice his way through if he still had his blade on hand, but Wesker unwillingly took it with him. Raiden cursed again.

'That's right...I can't die yet when I'm already so close,' Wesker thought as he slowly dragged his dying body through the corridor, leaving a trail of red behind him, 'It's almost ready...my new body...Galactus...'

The grotesque mismatch that was the youthful Pokemon Trainer used its powerful legs to hurl itself at Kirby and the others. Snake readied his C4 charges and grenades, Chris put more ammo into his gun, Pichu coated his tail in steel, and Kirby donned the wrappings around his head of a certain Sheikah. Ragna, still unconscious and without a weapon to fight, was left near the entrance and far away from any danger. PT attacked first.

The top head, the Charizard one, started to open its mouth. Expecting a blast of flames to emerge, the heroes quickly rolled out of the way in different directions. However, it wasn't fire, but waves of swirling leaves that flew out of its maw. In a way, it was both a good and a bad thing. Ivysaur's razor leaf had a tendency to be deadly accurate at times. Even worse, these leaves in particular had been set ablaze. At the same time, the Squirtle-face replacing PT's left pectoral acted like a makeshift pistol, spitting out bursts of water so hot that it could melt a man's face right off.

"Everyone, be careful! We can't risk getting hit here!" Snake shouted to the others. Snake tore off the clip on a grenade and threw it toward the creature. The explosion did nothing to harm it, but it did cause it to react, stunned by this eruption of light and smoke in its face. Kirby threw a handful of wire-thin needles that became embedded deep into the mutant's side. PT roared again. It spun around and started to make its way toward the pink puffball. Kirby switched to a head full of blue spikes and darted out of the way. He barely avoided having his face knocked off by a swing from the giant hammer-like appendage.

Pichu leaped up behind the monster, intending to slice off the Charizard head with an Iron Tail attack. However, just as he was closing in, the lizard's head spun around and shot out a jet of flames. Pichu managed to avoid being hit full-on by the attack, but the tip of his tail was singed pretty badly. Nonetheless, what worried the little mouse pokemon most was the fact that this extra head had a brain of its own, and could react accordingly. It would be difficult to attack it without the risk of a counteract. And the rest of the 'weapons' PT possessed on his person didn't help matters much, either.

Kirby shifted to the abilities of Toon Link, and unleashed a barrage of flaming arrows. Unfortunately, the projectiles were easily prevented from reaching their target with a quick blast of water, shattering the arrows into pieces. More flaming razor leaves were sent out, and one of them sliced a deep gash into Chris's left thigh, and the burn mark it left behind served to intensify the pain further. As a member of BSAA, Chris was accustomed to things like being shot, bitten and stabbed, but he just never could get used to it. Suddenly, as his attention was momentarily drawn to his injuries, he was sent rolling through the air by PT's left arm.

"That's not good!" Snake was finally able to use his missile launcher without any hesitation. He fired, and it was a direct hit into the mutant's side. PT howled in pain, losing its balance, smoke and spurts of blackish-green blood gushing off of its body. Kirby and Pichu rushed to Chris's aid as quickly as they could, but they didn't get far. The flabby, sagging tentacles of rotten flesh on PT's right arm stretched in front of them to block their path. Donning Mario's beloved red cap, Kirby swathed the assaulting tentacles in flames while Pichu sliced them apart with his Iron Tail. But that wasn't the end of it. A sphere of condensed aura, one of Lucario's old specialties, was thrown at them next.

Kirby gritted his teeth; he didn't have any sort of barrier or Toad he could use to block this attack. Pichu wouldn't be able to stop it, either. It was too close now to evade. He prepared himself to be hit with it straight on-

When the aura ball was suddenly struck by a shadow ball, destroying it. Kirby blinked.

"Hah...we made it just in time."

"Yeah, just in time to be big damn heroes! Whoo!"

"Do you always have to be so loud?"

"It's apart of my personality! My charm, if you will!"

"There's a time and place for everything...and now isn't the time to act so overconfident! This is very serious! You saw all of those corpses we've passed by."

"Yeah, but if you live your life brooding every day, then where's the fun?"

"I don't even know why I let you hang out around with me..."

"Oh, just admit that we're friends! You know it's true! We even have our own co-op strategy all set up for fights like this!"

"Yes, well...that's beside the point..."

"Ha ha ha, you're such a grouch!"

Kirby looked to the entrance from where he had come from earlier, and what he saw could hardly be believed. Standing there was Mewtwo and Roy, former Smashers who had chosen to leave the group of their own violation years ago. Kirby had never imagined he would seem them again, especially not now of all times. For some reason, they were arguing, but Kirby didn't care. He was just so happy to seem alive and well. But Kirby had let his guard down, and PT slapped him aside like he was a piece of trash lying in the way. Blood spurted from Kirby's mouth as he helplessly tumbled through the air.

However, before he could hit the ground, Mewtwo had caught him in a physic hold. Roy chuckled, "Hey there, Kirbs, long time no see! How's it going?"

"What a time to ask such a question," Mewtwo grumbled, "Look at him; he's obviously in pain." Using his kinetic powers, Mewtwo 'pulled' Kirby over to their side and away from the snarling monstrosity across the room. With a quick flick of his wrist, and a flash of his eyes, the genetic pokemon had healed Kirby of all of his wounds both external and internal. He dropped the pink puffball back onto the floor.

"My psychic abilities have increased greatly since we've last met, as you can see." Mewtwo smirked. Kirby smiled back.

"Alright then!" Roy unsheathed his sword, and swung it once through the air, "Let's work together to take down mister big and ugly! Even if we aren't Smashers anymore, me and Mewtwo...well, that doesn't mean we can forgive anyone who killed our friends! None of us can!"

"Well said." Mewtwo nodded. His eyes flashed once, and Roy had vanished. Instead, he was now standing atop PT's back. He swiped his sword across the blubbery neck of the Charizard head, severing it in one fell swoop. Roy jumped off just before he was hit by a electrical discharge. The decapitated appendage flopped helplessly on the ground for a few seconds before it melted away.

Kirby, Snake, Pichu and Chris were left without a word.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the lowest reaches of the MvC headquarters, another battle had long since been brewing. One of Wesker's many experiments on the members of the MvC had been an attempt at 'fusion', to create a being that possessed the powers of the two that created it. Unfortunately, even with Tron Bonne's reluctant help, the experiment had been a failure, and now the Hulk and Nemesis were left as a horrible, mismatched creature and barely anything left of its components' former sanity could be found. It was a being of pure destruction, similar to the mutated PT. When Kazuya Mishima had fallen down the trap door and ended up in the laboratories, he discovered the Hulk-Nemesis beast waiting for him. However, it had already viciously murdered several MvC members in the process, ones that Kirby and the others had failed to come across.

At the very moment, Kazuya had activated the demonic power inside of himself, taking on the form of a creature from hell to combat his equally-demonic opponent. Tron Bonne sat huddled in a corner, covering her face with her arms and using a table as a means of protection, regardless of how little help it actually was. The mangled bodies of Nathan Spencer, Storm, Doctor Strange and many others were strewn about the floor. Kazuya's face and body were covered in bruises; even with his dark strength unleashed, he was still facing a tough challenge.

"Please! Stop him!" Tron begged in between her trembling sobs, "He's...he's not even really alive anymore! Please put him out of his misery and stop him!"

"I'm...I'm trying!" Kazuya snapped, before the experiment's arm that once belonged to the Incredible Hulk knocked him to the floor. His face collided with the white, blood-stained tiles, and Kazuya felt his nose and a few of his teeth break from the impact. It just didn't make sense for someone to be this strong. This hideous beast, basically two halves of separate people stapled together, was far stronger than that Morrigan girl, or anyone else he had fought so far since this all began. Kazuya didn't know what to do. He had always relied so much on his strength and his intelligence, but it didn't seem like either of those could help him achieve victory in this fight. Was this going to be the end for him?

Suddenly, a pair of figures stood before the downed Kazuya. One was small and covered in black fur, with large spikes jutting out of the back of his head. The other was a tall, thin and lanky man wearing black suspenders and a purple hat. For some inexplicable reason, he held a tennis racket in his hand. Kazuya could hardly believe what he was seeing before his very eyes. Even the monster seemed confused, as it simply stood in place.

"Take this, and get back up as soon as you can. We'll need your help for this." the furry man handed Kazuya a Maxim Tomato.

Kazuya took it. Whoever these two bizarre-looking people were, they were on his side, it seemed.


	16. The Final Battle Begins

"Waluigi..."

"Eh? What is it, Shadow?"

"You brought them, right?"

"What? What you talkin' 'bout? Brought what?"

"I'm talking about the tennis balls! The special ones you had specifically asked for all those months ago!"

"Ah...heh heh heh, oh boy, you better believe I brought them! Got 'em right here, in fact!"

The hedgehog-like anthro bobbed his head. "Aim for his face and right arm. I'll attack the left arm and destroy it. Then we go for the chest at the same time to end it. We only have one shot at this, so make sure your skills are at their best."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya!"

"Let's...get...moving!"

As Kazuya continued to munch on the Maxim Tomato, his strength gradually returning, he observed these two strange newcomers rush into the fray. The one named Shadow moved with an incredible speed, almost too fast for the eye to follow. The bursts of heat escaping from the soles of his shoes was probably the reason; he was using it to propel himself forward, but the shoes had also been specifically designed for him to be able to control and monitor his speed simply by how he moved his legs. Leaping into the air, Shadow's left hand became engulfed in a strange blackish-green energy.

"Chaos Spear!" He swung his hand, and at the same time, a large projectile shaped like the head of an arrow materialized into the air. It pierced directly into the Hulk-Nemesis's left arm, the overly-muscled green limb. In a matter of seconds, the projectile dissolved inside the arm itself, the black flames spreading underneath the skin. It was spreading all over, like some kind of horrible infection, swelling and tearing apart the muscles. The mismatched monstrosity screeched in agony as his entire left arm suddenly exploded into pieces.

Waluigi threw a rather ordinary-looking tennis ball over his head, and smacked it with his racket. He hit it with such strength that the ball tore through the flesh of Hulk-Nemesis's right arm, becoming lodged inside. Waluigi's lips twisted into a devilish sneer, revealing wide, jagged teeth. The tennis ball started to expand in size, larger and larger, until thousands of tiny spikes erupted from within the seams. Hulk-Nemesis roared again; the spikes had torn apart the muscle tissue in the right arm, rendering it useless. With his weak legs left to support him, and no way to fight back, Hulk-Nemesis was already felled.

Shadow and Waluigi turned to Kazuya. "We'll need your help to finish it off for good." the former explained.

Kazuya smirked. "Of course!"

They charged straight ahead, and struck the monster in perfect unison. Tron's eyes widened as she watched them literally send Hulk-Nemesis flying through the ceiling above. In fact, he didn't just go up into the floor above; he kept going, and going, and going...and suddenly Tron felt a pair of big, strong arms wrap around her. She was flying up through the ceiling too.

* * *

Wesker stumbled into his private room, his temple throbbing and his heart pounding due to the massive blood loss. Despite all of the alterations he had conducted on his own body, even giving himself these mutated tentacles that he could control via his nervous system, he still couldn't make himself immortal, invincible. That was where Galactus came in. If everything went according to plan, and it should, he will become the ultimate life-form. Neither Kirby nor any of his allies will be able to defeat him, no matter how hard they try. The entire world will fall under his control, and he will beckon a new age for the entire human race. He slowly hobbled towards his desk.

'Just a bit more time...it's all I need...'

He lightly tapped his fingers three times on the surface of his desk, and it opened to reveal a small panel. Fortunately Wesker had made sure to have a touch-screen surface installed. He started to move his fingers in tune with the glowing dots on the board, inputting the secret password. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him.

He turned around, and saw three figures approaching him: Little Mac, Hammer Bro and Barbara, three other members of the 'Assist Trophies'. Wesker gritted his teeth; he regretted having overlooked them as a potential threat, just because they weren't considered true Smashers. A multitude of squid-like arms protruded from his back, and the blonde man threw his glasses to the floor as he unleashed a bone-rattling cry of fury. Despite his injuries, he was able to conjure up enough strength in his enraged state to move at an incredible speed. The Assist Trophies never had the time to react.

"You're..." Barbara had her chest sliced open, "Not enough..." Hammer Bro's face was removed, "...TO STOP ME!" Little Mac hit the ground in several red, gooey pieces.

Wiping stray blood from his face, Wesker finished inputting the code, and the wall in front of him started to lift. He smiled. The corpse of an ancient alien, discovered in the deep recesses of space, brought to Earth by Tony Stark many years ago. The body had been so large at the time that Iron Man had to have it shrunk down to a more manageable size. Even then, it could still tower over large buildings, and some skyscrapers. It was one of Iron Man's most ambitious and unfulfilled projects: to attempt to study this creature, and maybe even find a way to bring it back to life.

But now it would be the new body for Wesker to inhabit and live as a God. A God that wielded all the powers of both the Smashers and the MvC. A true super-being.

Wesker began making his way up the staircase, leading into an open hole in the middle of Galactus's chest. That was the 'control center'. His legs no longer able to support him, he used the tentacles on his back to drag him up the steps. Wesker practically threw himself into the 'cockpit'. The thousands of wires connected with his nervous system and his brain, and all of his pain was gradually numbed. Wesker smirked; he could feel his pitiful, tiny sense of self drifting away as he became one with this mighty creature from another world. His consciousness was leaving his tiny, dying body, and entering a much larger one. In a matter of minutes, Galactus's eyes would open.

* * *

Kirby quickly flipped out of the way, narrowly avoiding PT's large, Tyrannosaur-like jaws. The horrible beast roared as its head collided into the wall as a result of its failure. With the Charizard head now removed, its movements, intelligence and overall performance have lowered considerably, and it was struggling just to land a single attack on the many enemies surrounding it. It still used the steaming-hot jets of water as well as the flaming razor leaf, but Kirby and the others have already grown accustomed to dodging it much more easily. Chris, however, was too wounded to move, so Snake had to move him into the corner with the unconscious Ragna. Mewtwo was too fiercely focused on the battle at hand to try and heal his injuries. Nonetheless, Chris lent Snake his gun for the time being.

Snake fired again and again, the lead bullets piercing through the sickly-green flesh. PT barely seemed to feel a thing; obviously, it would still take something much stronger than a gun to hurt it. Pichu ran underneath the mutant's underbelly, and he raised an electric-cloaked Iron Tail to try and cut him apart. However, Pichu soon realized that PT was looking alot higher than usual. Then he realized that it had jumped, and was going to try to crush him. With a quick flash, Mewtwo teleported Pichu to safety. Kirby fired a barrage of Pit's arrows into PT's left arm, but it had little effect, just like the bullets.

Next, Kirby switched out into Luigi's hat, and threw a green fireball into PT's mouth. It swallowed the orb whole, and a moment later it let out a whine, smoke billowing from its throat. Whips made of vines sprouted from the rotting monstrosity's shoulders, and Kirby was wrapped in them. The pink warrior immediately took on the Sonic spikes, and broke free with a quick, razor-sharp spin. PT wasn't finished yet; it countered with multiple spurts of hot water, and somehow they had homing capabilities. All of the sudden, Kirby's body entirely changed. Aside from his eyes, which were pure white, his whole body was covered in black. He whipped out something that resembled a frying pan, and started to flip sausage and fish-shaped silhouettes into the air. The water collided with the fried foods, destroying them both. PT growled hatefully like a predator that's being denied its rightful prey. All the while, Snake continued to fire the gun; he really hated having no super powers sometimes.

"Damn..." Roy ran over to Mewtwo's side, "This isn't going as quickly as I thought."

"I know. I only have a limited number of uses for teleportation and recovery every 24 hours, due to the massive stress it puts on my mind. I have to be careful with knowing when to do it."

"Well, how about this idea?" Roy suggested, and as he explained his plan for the final attack, he finished saying, "You probably won't be able to use teleportation again afterward, though."

"That's fine; as long as it helps us win here. I doubt we'll need it for what's left!"

Roy nodded, and he made his way over to Kirby. "Kirby...you have Marth's power on you, don't you?" he asked.

Kirby switched his copy power around, and he instantly sprouted a full head of dark-blue hair, along with a tiara. For a brief moment, he could have sworn that Roy looked a little misty-eyed, a solemn expression over losing the man he had once shared such a close friendship with. Roy turned his attention back to the agitated PT, and readied his sword.

"We're gonna slice him and dice him!"

Mewtwo's eyes started to flash with a strong, white light. This same light began to appear around Roy and Kirby, lifting them a few inches off of the floor. And then they disappeared. A second later, they were flanking both of PT's sides, and they swung into him with their swords. PT howled, but when he tried to strike back, the two attackers were already in different locations. Kirby was on its left, and Roy was just about it. They struck again. They didn't have the time to make deep cuts, but that didn't matter; it was going to be quantity, not quality, that counted here. Mewtwo's eyes continued to flicker as Roy and Kirby were warped all over PT, unable to be hit, and unable to be blocked. It did not take long for PT's monstrous body to become covered in bleeding wounds. But neither swordsman relented in their attack. It was so fast that Snake had to give up on following the warriors with his eyes; he simply watched as cut after cut opened up all over PT's body. It was like the beast had been caught in the middle of a violent whirlwind. Snake had never seen anything like it.

Pichu looked over at Mewtwo, and saw blood was seeping down the Pokemon's face. He was pushing himself far too hard for this.

It was time to end it for good. Roy and Kirby prepared to thrust their blades into PT's forehead, finishing him off...but they never got the chance. For at that moment, the ground underneath PT exploded, and it was sent tumbling as Hulk-Nemesis burst from the floor, bruised and battered. Snake, Pichu, Mewtwo and Chris couldn't believe what they were seeing; it was absolutely insane. Roy and Kirby fell flat on their faces, while PT tumbled along until a wall stopped its descent. Hulk-Nemesis didn't move; he was dead. A few moments later, three figures emerged on top of him. Waluigi, Shadow, and Kazuya carrying Tron in his arms bridal-style.

Tron blinked a few times, realized what was going on, and blushed a bright shade of pink. She had never been held in a man's arms like this before.

Kazuya looked at her, rolled his eyes, and dropped her on the ground without any warning. He thought she was kind of annoying.

"Shadow, Waluigi...you finished it faster than I expected!" Raiden, who had been forgotten for the most part until now, ran over to the others. The others approached these new arrivals as well, and Kirby was greatly relieved to see that Kazuya wasn't dead after all. Mewtwo, however, was left bent over on his hands and knees, struggling to breath. It had nearly broken his mind having to teleport the two of them so much; he wouldn't be able to do it again for a while. At the very least, he could still heal Chris's leg and warp himself around, due it being less of a strain. Tron tried not to look too disappointed as she got back onto her feet.

Suddenly, a low growl was heard, and everyone looked to the mortally-wounded PT. It was still alive, if only barely. For a moment, none dared approach, but then Kirby, now returned to his normal form, began carefully walking toward it. He watched as the monster's body started to shrink and convulse, bubbles of blood rising out of its orifices, and its own arms were starting to melt into puddles of sludge. Kirby stared deeply into that tiny, sad human eye it still possessed. For a moment, Kirby could have sworn he saw a flash of PT's lost human side in that eye. The young and aspiring pokemon trainer who, despite having lost his memories, had become a valuable member of the Smashers. He was like apart of their family. But then, it started to speak, and Kirby's fleeting suspicion was confirmed.

"I'm...sorry..." Kirby heard those two words, and the creature took its last breath. Kirby clenched his eyes tight. Why did things have to turn out this way?

He felt Snake's hand pat him on the head. "C'mon...we need to hurry..." his words couldn't mask the pity for the mutant in his voice.

Kirby nodded.

* * *

With a little help, Kirby and the others were able to knock down the locked door, and hurried to Wesker's personal office. Raiden found his blade lying on the floor along the way, and he swore to himself to make up for his earlier failure in this upcoming fight. Everybody was pumped and ready to defeat Wesker, to finally avenge the deaths of Mario, Link, Samus and all of the other Smashers who had died for the sake of his evil scheme.

As they ran, Tron explained everything to them, about Galactus, Wesker's intent on world domination, and how he had infused the alien corpse with the DNA and powers of the Smashers and deceased MvC members. It was meant to be a body that was absolutely invincible. They would have no chance in stopping Wesker if he became apart of Galactus; they would have to kill him before he could get inside.

"How do you know all of this?" Snake asked. "I don't think even Iron Man knew about this plan of his. Or anyone else in the MvC for that matter!"

Tron lowered her head. "I...I was being held captive, and threatened with torture and death, if I didn't help him. I was the next best thing after Tony Stark, he said, whatever that meant. But I couldn't tell any of the others in the MvC about this either. Believe me, I really wanted nothing to do with this! I just wanted to go back to living with my brothers again! But I had no choice! He shows no mercy for anyone!" she was shouting now, with tears in her eyes. Kazuya had noticed all of the bruises, cuts and burns covering her arms, but he never said anything. Neither did anyone else. "I'm just so frightened...he's nothing like that Hulk-Nemesis; I could tell...from the first time I met him, that he didn't have a trace of humanity left in him..."

"Don't worry your pretty little head!" Roy winked at her, "This'll be a piece of cake! Raiden already wounded that Wesker douche pretty bad...what else could he possibly do? And we had a few friends dropped off around here to intercept him; no way could they fail!"

"I just hope so..."

They stopped. Three mutilated corpses laid at their feet. The green boxing gloves, purple guitar and the blood-stained hammer gave away who they once were. These were the three Assist Trophies meant to intercept Wesker if he had escaped from Raiden. But clearly, they had failed in succeeding.

"Damn...I guess I spoke too soon..." Roy gulped.

They all drew their eyes upward, toward the open wall, where a massive man in purple armor stood. Everything about him was huge, imposing, terrifying. Impossibly huge, clearly something that could only come from the deepest reaches of the galaxy, another life-form separate from human beings. And the air around them thinned. He stood larger than the building itself, inside of a container that had been hidden from view with stealth technology. For some reason, there was a glowing yellow spot in the middle of his stomach. But that wasn't what Kirby and his friends were looking at. The giant man's eyes were open, and he was staring directly at them. He smiled.

"Good morning."

Large tentacles started to emerge from his back, similar to Wesker's own transformation, but this time, the tentacles were gigantic, sickly-gray in color, and on the ends of each of them was a distorted, yet familiar, face. Kirby gasped; the faces of his deceased friends. He could name and point out each of them with ease: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Fox, Lucario, and many more beyond that. All of those horrible, melted faces were glaring at them. Their eye-less sockets only made things worse. Galactus' smile widened even further. His eyes now resembled Wesker's, with blood-red pupils.

"Let us make some more room...so that I may enjoy this."

With a mighty swing of his arm, the entire roof, and most of the room itself, was blasted away. The night sky was their roof now, and in the distance, a full moon could be seen. One of the tentacles, the Mario-headed one, stretched out and opened its mouth. A beam of intense heat was fired into the city nearby, and an entire block erupted into flame. The night air was filled with screams. Kirby and the others could only stare on, stunned.

How could they possibly fight against something like this?


	17. Preparations

A/N: Just so people know, when I mean the 'backside', I am pretty much always talking about the actual back instead of the butt. That was a mistake on my part with me not paying attention to what I was writing at the time. I apologize about that.

* * *

It was unimaginable. The amount of incredible power he possessed, the sense of overwhelming blood-lust radiating from Galactus' very skin, was enough to destroy the beliefs and convictions of a lesser being. Kirby and the others nearly cracked their necks from bend their heads back just to look at the towering man before them. He stood several stories tall, easily eclipsing them as expected of a giant; it would only take a single one of his fingers to crush them like ants. That was what they were, from Galactus' view. Pitiful, harmless ants waiting to be stepped on.

The smell of smoke and charred flesh wafted over from the burning city nearby, and it made Pichu feel nauseous. It was the same smell that the charred corpse of his brother had carried on him. More of the plump, gray feelers and tentacles from before were emerging all over the alien's shoulders and upper back; there were more mutilated faces on them now, including Link, Zelda, Ice Climbers, Ness, Wolf, and even a few MvC members, including She-Hulk, Wolverine and Dante. Chris looked at the horrible jeering faces, and then at his gun; there was no way he could do anything with just simple bullets. He threw the gun into a nearby pile of rubble.

Kirby, Snake, Roy, Mewtwo, Raiden, Shadow, Waluigi, Pichu, Kazuya and Chris all looked to each other for some sort of guidance.

"So...what do we do now?" Roy asked aloud.

"Quiet. I'm thinking." Mewtwo snapped at him.

"I don't think my tennis balls will be able to pierce that armor..." Waluigi rubbed his pointed chin.

"I might be able to take him with the super form...but it'll take some time to power up..." Shadow sounded disappointed.

"I'm pretty much out of ammo already...not much I can do right now." grumbled Snake.

Kirby shrugged.

"Pi! Pi pi pichu!" Pichu was practically frantic at this point.

"We're...in a tight spot." Chris sighed.

"Well, we have to think of something!" Raiden exclaimed, and then he unsheathed his sword, "I'm...I'm the lightning...I'll take him down! It's all I'm good for; I'll take the chance!"

"Don't go doing anything reckless, Raiden. We still need you around here, got it? We have to think carefully and plan out a strategy." Snake warned his old friend, and his words alone seemed to calm the young man down.

"Yeah, we're all chatting together like it's no big deal, but you know...THERE'S STILL A FREAKIN' BAJILLION-FOOT-TALL SON OF A BITCH STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!"

"I told you to be quiet, Roy!"

"What is wrong with you guys? I thought you said you could handle this!" Tron screamed at all of them.

"We can." Snake replied, his voice unnaturally calm in spite of the situation, "I had an old friend of mine gather some special equipment for us. He should be here at any moment."

"Eh? No fooling? Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"Well, in all of the commotion lately, I didn't have the time to bring it up."

"What?"

Suddenly, their conversation was cut short by a screeching roar from the Samus-headed tentacle on Galactus' left shoulder. They all looked back to the gigantic man standing in front of them; he didn't appear to be very pleased with their choice of ignoring him like that. He was reaching down toward them, like a child would to pick a toy off of the floor. Kirby and the others remained where they stood. Tron, however, was already running for her life, or at least it appeared that way.

"As if I would allow you worthless little creatures any chance in striking back at me, your God!"

And then Snake smirked. "They're here."

Even despite all of his massive power and giant living heads stemming from his spinal column, Galactus still failed to notice that this was all just a ploy; the entire conversation had simply meant to keep his attention long enough for the final group of allies to arrive on the scene. Galactus felt something small and inconsequential land onto his shoulder, but he couldn't help but look to see what it was. It was a young man. He had scruffy blonde hair, and he wore clothes that seemed to belong in a fantasy setting. A sword hilt hung on his waist, but he did not unsheathe it. Instead, he simply held his hand out in front of him.

"Move!"

Out of nowhere, a large, glowing hand made of psyenergy slapped Galactus hard across the face. It was enough to send the alien giant staggering backward. That was not the end of the assault, either. The boy continued to summon massive hands, smacking Galactus back and forth on both cheeks, barely giving him the time to react. It wasn't a very strong attack, but it did its part in holding him back effectively.

"Damn you...you piece of filth!" Galactus slammed his palm upon his shoulder where the boy had stood. He smiled evilly. He raised his hand, expecting the boy's smashed corpse to be clinging to the fabric of his glove, but instead he found nothing. He looked at his shoulder, and saw it was free of any blood-splatter as well. Galactus couldn't believe it; did the boy have the power of teleportation as well?

And then he saw it. Floating in front of him, holding the blonde boy by the wrist, was a very peculiar-looking creature. He appeared to be a man, but he was the size of a dwarf and his face was too comical-looking to be real. He wore green body-suit with red spandex, which unfortunately did not fit him very well. Somehow, he could support both himself and the boy with a large balloon. And then he started to speak.

"Tingle..."

A green rupee the size of a small house appeared in the air.

"Tingle..."

A red rupee of the same size appeared beside it.

"Kooloooooooooooooooooooooooo ..."

As he dragged on with the last 'o', more and more rupees of varying sizes sprouted like wildfire in mid-air. Galactus could only stare on quietly and bug-eyed, so confused as to what was going on that he was actually a little curious to see what happens. If he had lived in the land of Hyrule, all of that rupees could probably buy him a whole cart of deku shields. The rupees stopped appearing, and the strange man closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he announced the final word of this mysterious incantation.

"LIMPAH!"

Immediately, the rupees flipped over onto their pointed sides, and began pummeling into Galactus' chest, similar to rapid machine-gun fire, except with foreign currency. It didn't hurt at all, though. With a grunt, Galactus flicked both the strange man and the boy out of the air.

At the same time, the din arising from the town was gradually drowned out by an approaching helicopter. Underneath the rotor-craft, a large cargo box dangled precariously from several reinforced-steel ropes. A man poked his face out of the pilot's window as he carefully dropped the box in front of Kirby and the others. It was larger than a tractor, and much, much wider. Snake waved to the man; it was Otacon, another one of his companions from his time before becoming a Smasher. His unkempt hair only became messier in the twisting wind. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but smile broadly at his friend.

"I got what you asked for, Snake! I brought the Assist Trophies too!"

"Good work, Otacon!"

The box's walls collapsed, revealing its contents: Snake's personal mech Metal Gear REX and Kirby's Air Ride machine the Dragoon, geared, primed and ready for action.

Waluigi whistled sharply into the dark night sky, and a few seconds later, something large and furry came bounding over the rubble. It was a Labrador Retriever puppy, yet it was large enough to rival a Jeep. Waluigi climbed aboard his cute companion and, treating it as if it were some kind of horse, proclaimed, "High-ho, Nintendog!" The puppy wasted no time in charging after Galactus. It even barked as it did so.

Shadow reached behind himself and inexplicably pulled out six chaos emeralds. Suddenly, looking at them all, he gasped. "Oh no! Where's that damn FOURTH chaos emerald?"

"You drop this?" Chris held it out to him.

"Oh...uh, thank you." Seconds later, Shadow had become Super Shadow, and he flew off in a burst of golden light.

Tron returned to the group riding her walking battle mech tank known as 'The Gustaff'. "Thank goodness this guy wasn't injured when the room came crumbling down. It was a special side-project I worked on, intending to escape Wesker with it, but it has alot of firepower and it can fly, so I guess it can come in some use, huh?"

"You sure you want to do this?" Kazuya asked.

Tron nodded. "I do. I can't let him get away with this! I'll face the odds, just like you guys!"

"What kind of weaponry does it have?"

"Well," Tron pressed a small button on the control panel, and a gatling gun popped out from behind it, "It's got this thing. But I can't use it and pilot the Gustaff at the same time..." she shrugged bashfully.

"I'll use it! It's about the only thing I can do anyway." Chris said as he was climbing into Tron's mech. Pretty soon they had departed to the battlefield too.

Snake and Pichu climbed into the REX, and Kirby sat himself firmly onto the Dragoon. The two heroes headed off, kicking up a cloud of dust as air machine took flight and REX skidded along the ground with the wheels on its feet. In the process of this all, the others had left Raiden, Roy, Mewtwo and Kazuya behind with no sort of transportation available. The stragglers sighed in unison.

"What do we do now?"

"I dunno..."

"..."

"I guess we better foot it then!"

And they proceeded to do just that. No point in complaining now, it seemed. The battle had truly begun now.


	18. Versus Galactus 1

Galactus could hardly believe what was happening; it was so ludicrous that it was actually incredible to behold. These fools...they really seemed to believe that they stood some chance in defeating him, a God. It was impossible. His power was absolute, his skin impenetrable, and his feet alone could crush them and halt their little attempts at 'fighting back' with ease. If anything, he only wanted to test his new power by allowing them to attack. He planned to simply kill them all when he grew bored with their pitiful last acts. They should have used their time to run away and save themselves, but they were both stupid AND suicidal, it seemed. Galactus smirked to himself. No shame in having some fun now. He didn't have to do anything yet.

The Metal Gear REX was slowly plodding along. Snake was sitting tense in the cockpit when he saw a certain pink puffball float down beside him atop the Dragoon. Pichu had already started crawling up onto the roof of the large mech from its side. He was willing to stake his life in this fight; he wanted to make his brother and Red proud of him.

"Kirby? What is it?" Snake asked.

Kirby said nothing. Instead, he had his eyes to do all of the talking, as usual. It didn't take long for Snake to figure it all out. Kirby's eyes were incredibly strong, the kind that you could put your trust in.

"You have a plan?"

Kirby nodded.

"What is it? What are you going to do?"

Kirby looked to Galactus, and then down at his Dragoon, and finally back at Snake again.

"...I see. I guess that's the only way to take care of this for good, right? Okay, we'll buy you the time that you need!"

Kirby thanked Snake with another nod, and in a flash, he shot off in the opposite direction. He flew over Waluigi, Shadow, Tron, Chris and all of the others. Snake watched on as Kirby flew further and further away, leaving behind a trail of exhaust with all the colors of the rainbow, until he finally disappeared into the darkness of the night. It was almost like watching a gigantic, glowing bullet. It would take the Popstar warrior about three hours before he returned, judging from the Dragoon's top speed. Snake sighed; he hoped for all their sakes that this plan would work, because if it didn't, they would all likely die. He could hear Pichu's tiny feet scratching around on the top of the REX. The scratching soon stopped.

"You ready, Pichu?"

"Pi-chu!"

Snake took control of the REX's missile-guiding system,the rail-gun shifting in motion as he punched in the coordinates.

At the same time, Waluigi and Shadow were nearing in close to Galactus' right foot. However, the owner of said foot quickly spotted them. Beams of pure energy were fired from the giant alien's eyes, riddling the ground around him, but Waluigi's Nintendog and Shadow's super speed allowed them to avoid every shot. Flames and bursts of steam twisted all around them in violent waves, yet they still pushed on. Shadow flew straight up, and with a wave of his hand, Galactus' face was engulfed in an explosion of chaos energy. However, he simply blew it away with a single breath; a breath strong enough to send Shadow barreling through the air. The tentacle bearing Fox's face struck at the hedgehog with a rush of fire, and sure enough, Shadow soon found himself lying in a pile of rubble on the ground. Coughing, he began to stand back up; he wasn't finished yet. If anything, this failure simply gave him the chance to try out a few more tricks.

"Nintendog...jump!" Waluigi placed the handle of his tennis racket between his teeth. The overgrown Labrador jumped high into the air, and Waluigi himself jumped a few seconds later. With a single bounding leap, he flew from Nintendog's back and wrapped his hands around a large button on Galactus' boot. Once he was able to get some proper footing, he started to climb. It was probably the only chance Waluigi had to make his ascent; the mountain of a man was distracted by far tougher opponents. He could sneak up and land a fatal blow without him ever being aware until it was too late. Maybe he could climb into his ear and have some fun tennis practice. Cautiously he raised one hand, pulled himself a little higher, and then put out the other hand. It took a lot of energy just to reach the top of the button, but Waluigi had to press on. A single mistake would mean death for him.

The Nintendog hurried away to a safe distance to await his master's return.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Tron and Chris were doing what they could to draw the tentacle creatures' attention. Tron was a master pilot when it came to controlling her own creations; she swooped and swerved through the chilling winds like a pro, narrowly avoiding oncoming attacks time and time again. Despite the immense danger she was putting herself through, Tron still found herself smiling broadly. It was a strange sort of smile, twisted and devoid of happy emotion; it was the adrenaline rush pumping through her very veins. So many awful things had happened to her over the past several years, but she had to keep pushing on for the sake of returning to her family. She was so confident and driven past the natural fears of people that she had to grin about it. IF it would help these people defeat Wesker once and for all, she would do it. She would be as brave as she needed to be.

"Hey, you sure you're okay? We're kinda - whoa - flying dangerously here!" Chris shouted over the deafening roar of the gatling gun.

"Don't worry! I got this!" Tron replied as she pulled a pair of goggles over her eyes. She tossed an extra pair over to the older man. They were going to need them if they kept moving at this high of a speed. All of the Gustaff's energy output was being focused into its boosters.

The tentacle of Pit's head swiped at the pair in a fruitless effort, spewing a beam of arrows from its mouth, roaring indignantly. With little to no real protection, Tron and Chris had no choice but to keep dodging over and over again. If anything, it would help keep them away from the others, and make the battle a little easier for them.

Down below, Roy, Mewtwo, Kazuya, and Raiden had arrived at the giant's feet for battle.

"Geez...how do we even get up there?" said the young, red-haired warrior, "Mewtwo, can you give us all a lift with your psychic powers?"

"I already told you, I can't do that anymore for today! Besides, even if I could, I would only be able to levitate one of you."

"Oh, man..." Roy groaned.

"...I think I can do it." said Raiden, taking a step forward.

"What?"

Raiden unsheathed the long, thin blade from the container strapped to his leg, and he charged straight toward Galactus' boot. As soon as he was close enough, Raiden threw himself into the air with a single bounding leap. He thrust his blade into the huge leg, but of course, for someone as large as Galactus, it had little effect. But that was not what Raiden was intending to do. Instead, he heaved himself up onto the hilt of his blade, balancing on it like a circus performer would on a tight-rope. He pulled the sword out underneath him, but before he could fall, he struck the sword into the 'wall' again, and he continued to do this over and over, going higher and higher. It was a rather reckless move, but it seemed to be working well for him.

"That guy is kinda nuts," Roy remarked.

"Yes, he might be insane," Kazuya mumbled aloud, "But at least he's making some progress. We're still stuck here."

The three of them sighed in conjunction; there was little they could do at this point, as much as they wanted to help.

Suddenly, without any warning, several globs of grayish-blue sludge the size of cars fell onto the ground in front of them. They smelled of rancid sludge, and wafts of steam were still flowing off of them.

"W-What the hell...?" Roy clenched his nostrils in a desperate attempt to block out the revolting stench.

Mewtwo looked skyward. "Is it just me...or did some of those tentacles with our friends' faces suddenly disappear?"

"It appears that it had missed us though. A pathetic excuse for a projectile attack." Kazuya said.

Roy carelessly began to approach one of the slimy blobs. "Just what is this stuff? It's gross!"

Suddenly, Mewtwo sensed it. There was something moving inside of the slime. His eyes bulged wide, and he looked to his sword-wielding friend. "Roy, watch out! There's something in there!" he shouted.

"Huh?"

If Mewtwo had not warned him in time, Roy would have likely been beheaded by the initial strike. However, he did not make it out uninjured, as his entire left arm was sent flying through the air seconds later. Roy barely had the chance to register it before another attack went for his chest instead. But this one was slow enough for him to react in another moment. He swung his sword, connecting with a large clawed finger, and the impact sent him skidding backward near Kazuya and Mewtwo. The latter of the two hurried to Roy's aid; he couldn't help the wound completely, but he was able to close the wound to prevent further blood loss. Throughout it all, Roy kept his agony to himself, simply grimacing in pain from the loss of his limb.

"Well...at least it wasn't my sword arm..." he joked, his voice a hoarse whisper.

The three of them could only stare on as creatures started to emerge from the bubbling ooze. Roy realized that what had attacked him was not a claw after all, but a blade. A blade that was emerging from the hand of this zombie resembling his departed friend Marth. Following behind him were other melted life-forms in the mocking semblance of Samus, Bowser, the Ice Climbers, and Falco. 'Marth' picked up Roy's arm off of the floor, and swallowed it whole with a single gulp, like a snake. Roy gritted his teeth.

Meanwhile, Snake had finished inputting the coordinates. The rail gun attached on the Metal Gear REX's backside had been specifically designed to possess a smaller range of firepower, as well as to be able to safely fire objects other than ballistic missiles. Snake glanced at the time flashing on screen; the battle had only begun five minutes ago. It would take a long time before Kirby returned. Snake began making the robotic walker approach Galactus by a few extra dozen feet. He could hear muffled sounds coming from inside the rail gun. Once he knew he was at a good position, Snake opened a compartment on the side of the control panel, and fired.

"Good luck, Pichu! You can do it!"

Of course, Snake's words of encouragement were blocked out by a rush of sound. Pichu hadn't expected flying through the air at super speed to be so nauseating. Considering he had the ability to move faster than the speed of sound for short bursts of time, he figured he would be accustomed to something like this too, but then again, he didn't usually go twirling into the sky. Pichu was like a bullet fired from a pistol, and, with his teeth clenched, he tumbled along Galactus' right shoulder before realizing it. Fortunately, he landed on his feet, but his whole body was wracking with a terrible ache from the trip. Pichu winced; he had thought he cut down the tentacles with his Iron Tail attack, but everything was so huge. His legs were trembling so much that he could barely move, and it wasn't just being shot out of a cannon that made him feel this way. He heard a low growl from behind, and he couldn't help but look over his shoulder. It was the tentacle of his brother.

And then Pichu was surrounded by darkness. He had been eaten alive.

Galactus smirked; things were going exactly as he had expected they would.


	19. Versus Galactus 2

Kirby peered over the Dragoon's edge, watching the raging sea passing underneath him. He sighed; he wasn't going fast enough. He needed to hurry, while his friends were still back there, fighting for their very lives. He couldn't dare let them down. Kirby knew that the only way to succeed was to go beyond maximum speed; it was a dangerous prospect, but it was his only choice. Kirby closed his eyes as he entered a large thunder cloud. He came out of the other side a few seconds later. Mountains were coming up in the distance. Kirby opened his eyes, and furrowed his brow. The booster flames emitting from the Dragoon's engines swelled in size. It was beginning to enter a new blazing speed.

This would be the Dragoon's final mission, no doubt about it. That meant, however, it needed to pull all the stops.

Suddenly, he heard something rushing in from behind. Kirby could hardly believe it; nothing on this planet was supposed to be capable of matching the Dragoon. It didn't take long for him to see what was following behind.

It was Meta-Knight. But, he looked strange. Kirby swerved out of the way, just in time to avoid some sort of yellow-colored beam fired from the strange attacker's blade. This thing...it was some sort of clone, probably sprouted off of Galactus' body to chase after him. Kirby knew what he had to do.

He couldn't let the Dragoon drop its speed any more, but he had to fight back nonetheless. It was his only choice if he wanted to survive. The Meta-Knight clone was getting closer, and it was preparing for another projectile attack, it seemed.

Kirby donned the mask that once belonged to the original Meta-Knight, and unsheathed the jagged sword. It all felt so strange. Kirby was hit with a tragic sense of nostalgia from this scene. It wasn't exactly the same, but he could recall they had once fought like this, the sky their battleground, far above the land below. It pained Kirby to see one of his closest companions be made up as such a mockery.

He wouldn't let it 'live' this pitiful life much longer. Kirby readied himself, and swung with all of his strength.

* * *

"Dammit...I don't see Pichu anywhere..."

Snake swore under his breath. He held a pair of binoculars to his face, inspecting Galactus's shoulders from afar for any sign of his yellow rodent friend. This wasn't good. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something had happened to the little guy; he was far too young to lose his life already. So many of the Smashers were, it was a terrible shame. Snake sighed under his breath. There was little he could do for him but just hope that Pichu would come out of this alive. It would only hurt more if the Smashers were reduced even further than they already were. But he knew he shouldn't be thinking of these things. Keeping alive was most important now. He hurriedly began inputting commands to activate the sub-machine guns.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from down below. He peered out of the opening of the REX's 'mouth', and he saw a very strange sight. He counted at least seventeen tiny soldiers in bright-orange uniforms, accompanied by four tanks barely a head taller. This must have been the 'Infantry and Tanks', members of the Assist Trophies sub-division. They were well-known for possessing alot of strength for people and machines so tiny, and Snake was careful not to avoid stepping on them as he moved the REX onward.

The REX was a sturdy machine, but it wasn't meant for walking at full speed for extended periods of time like this. Keeping the massive head balanced on a pair of small legs like this wasn't the easiest thing to accomplish. It would shake and rumble constantly, making it almost impossible to aim via remote control too. It tended to sway back and forth, and the head needed to swivel around whenever it was trying to face something. Nonetheless, it had a lot of strength, and it could take some serious hits, so it was Snake's best bet at staying alive too. As he drew even closer, he saw Roy, Mewtwo and Kazuya locked in battle. But they were fighting opponents he never would have expected.

"What a minute...is that...Marth? And Bowser? And...dammit, what the hell is going on here?"

"I think they're coming from Galactus himself. He's controlling these corpses he's created to make look like the deceased Smashers, Snake! It's one of the powers that Wesker had fitted him with." Octacon's voice abruptly cut in from the receiver on the REX's control panel.

"What? How does that even work?"

"Don't ask me; this goes way beyond just simple science. But that just means you need to be really careful! Galactus himself hasn't done anything yet, but the real battle begins when he finally decides to get serious! Keep an eye out, Snake!"

"Right!"

Suddenly, a figure leaped in front of the REX, going straight for Snake. It was Samus, or rather one of the rotten clones designed to look like Samus. Snake had always found the bounty hunter rather attractive, and her impeccable skills in battle, her acrobatic movements, only made her all the better. In a way, she reminded him of someone Snake knew a long time ago, almost in another life maybe. He had attempted to hit on her several times, but she always rejected him, claiming not to be interested in romance. Snake couldn't beat her in any of the brawls either.

But right now, he was just concerned about whether or not she was going to kill him. He thrust the Metal Gear REX's leg out to catch her. However, Samus was much faster. She nimbly flipped herself over the mech's 'foot', and proceeded to run up the length of the limb. Fortunately, Snake had prepared for this. He threw a live grenade into her face. It detonated, and Samus popped, like a balloon filled with sludge and mud. It was a rather unbecoming end for the poor woman. Snake shook his head sadly.

However, although most of her body was destroyed instantly, one of her hands became dislodged, and it tumbled through the air.

"What?" Something, like a whip of energy, emerged from the palm of the dismembered hand. Snake dodged the surprise attack, but he wasn't fast enough. It slashed his face, and he lost all sight in his right eye. He screamed and clutched at his face, getting blood all over his hands, and he realized that his eyeball had been punctured. Snake knew this wasn't the right time to think such things, but it seemed Otacon's warning had been a grim premonition instead. Samus' hand flopped onto the ground, dissolving soon afterward. The splattered ooze that remained of her body also vanished into thin air.

Snake continued to press his hand to his face in some vain attempt to stop the pain. He was going to need a bit of time to recover. Unfortunately, he had already run out of time, as a new figure confronted him. It was Phoenix Wright. His face was partially melted, a gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead, and his suit was torn in shreds, but there was no way Snake could ever forget the man. Phoenix mumbled something under his breath, and the REX began to tremble violently. Snake saw a warning signal flash onto the control screen; the REX was breaking apart, from powerful vibrations echoing inside of its interior. He attempted to activate something, anything that could help him, but all of the systems had become unresponsive. Phoenix was using some kind of ultra-low sound, a sound that Snake was unable to hear, and yet it was capable of breaking apart of gigantic mech such as this. This wasn't any sort of power Phoenix possessed back when he had been alive. A crack formed down the middle of the control panel, and Snake knew he had no choice but to jump out.

With a few pitiful sputters, the REX collapsed onto its side, and ceased to move. Snake cursed; things weren't going well so far. He began running in the direction of Roy and the others. Phoenix followed after him, yet he did not try to attack again.

Galactus continued to observe his opponents struggle; it was a wasted effort that would only end in their painful deaths. How could he not smile at witnessing these fools, who dared go against him, suffer like they rightfully deserved? One of them had already lost a limb, and another an eye. It would not be long before they started losing more than just body parts. And in the end, he didn't have to do a single thing. The creatures he controlled through his mind control were more than strong enough, for they possessed all the powers of the dead warriors they copied. Some of them even awakened powers the originals never obtained. Galactus chuckled; his power was absolute.

It was now that he finally realized that Raiden and Walugi were standing on his shoulder pads, glaring scornfully at him. Raiden had his sword drawn, and Waluigi was lightly swinging his racket back and forth. Galactus regarded the two of them as nothing more than a minor nuisance, regardless of how they managed to get this high up. A red glow began to emit from his eyes, he prepared to eliminate them at once with a laser beam.

Raiden and Waluigi didn't give him the chance. They struck Galactus right in his eyes. The beams exploded inside the alien's pupils, and both of his eyes were engulfed in flames and gushing blood. He screamed pitifully. Raiden and Waluigi struck again, and a large X-shaped scar exploded in the center of Galactus' face. His cries grew even louder.

In that single instant, the alien's beliefs of total invincibility had been shattered. But now...he knew what he had to do. The only correct way to deal with the vermin that defiled his face was death. All of them. He was going to crush them all personally.


	20. Versus Galactus 3

A/N: Sorry about the chapter being so short, especially since it's chapter 20. I've been really busy with schoolwork now that I'm back at college, so I could only spare time to do this much for this one and I just wanted to get it up and out of the way, but it fulfills its purpose well enough, I think.

* * *

Galactus' wretched screams were almost loud enough to burst eardrums. The zombies of the Smashers froze in mid-action, their bodies suddenly becoming as rigid as steel. Roy, Mewtwo, and Kazuya, all battered and bruised, turned their attention to the skyscraper of a man standing a few dozen feet away. The tentacles jutting out of Galactus' back were twisting and turning, screeching along with their controller, flailing about in total disarray. Some of the heads were spewing bucket-loads of grayish goop all over themselves, and a number of them even exploded from the intense amount of stress they were experiencing. Raiden and Waluigi prepared another strike; they weren't going to stop until Galactus was good and dead. They were attacking his face, the most vulnerable part of his body. They had already destroyed his sight and left him with a permanent scar. They could do this...they could win this.

But they hardly took a step before Galactus' hand was already upon them. The shadow it cast completely eclipsed the two men.

"You!" His voice was thick and hoarse, but it still held plenty of life. The current wounds would be permanent, but they would not kill him as it is. Raiden gritted his teeth, annoyed at the fact that this battle was going to have to be prolonged further. As much as he wished he could have chosen a different way, it was important that he and Waluigi survived. So, instead of turning his blade onto the giant's face once more, he spun around to confront the hand drawing nearer.

Raiden swung his sword, and sliced one of Galactus' fingers clean in half. It gave him the opening he needed; he grabbed Waluigi by the suspender, and leaped into the night air, hundreds of feet above the ground. Their brief flight into the heavens was soon followed with a tumbling descent without any control. Raiden's mechanical body wasn't built for situations like this. However, he wasn't worried. A few moments later, and the two of them landed safely in the backseat of Tron's Gustaff, making the small machine rather crowded. Tron was having some trouble keeping it in balance as it swayed back and forth in the air.

"Th...thanks..." Waluigi grunted, still a little shaken. He had no idea about Raiden's little plan to escape.

"You guys alright?" Chris asked.

"We failed to kill him." Raiden murmured as he wiped some stray blood off of his blade's edge.

"But you hurt him pretty badly! Now that he's blind, it should be a lot easier-"

Suddenly, one of the tentacles with Ness' head came raging towards them. Tron quickly sent the Gustaff to the right, narrowly avoiding being hit, but then another tentacle emerged, seemingly out of nowhere. It resembled MODOK's ugly mug; Tron dodged that one as well. No matter how far they tried to get away, Galactus kept closing them in, like a rat caught in a trap. Tron cursed under her breath. This wasn't good.

"Do these things have minds of their own, or something?"

"I don't know!"

They swerved out of the way of an oncoming Pikachu. Suddenly, as Chris watched from behind them, something small and bright flew into the underside of the Pikachu tentacle, bursting out of its back a moment later. It was Shadow, and in his arms was the half-conscious Pichu. Chris hadn't even known the little rodent had accidentally gotten himself devoured, but the fact he had been saved relieved him. Shadow flew in a tight circle, firing off a number of little Chaos Shots from his palms, destroying three of Galactus' slimy appendages in the process. Shadow flew back down to return Pichu, presumably. Chris was just about ready to return to firing the gatling gun, but then he saw it. It was coming right at them. And they wouldn't be able to dodge it; it had used the Pikachu Tentacle as cover to sneak in closer, somehow. He quickly tapped a small button on the front of his ballistic vest, and the Gustaff was covered in the ocean-blue aura. It was a personal shield designed to protect from B.O.W. attacks, capable of covering everything in a five-foot radius around the user. Unfortunately, it used up so much battery power that it barely lasted four minutes. Chris had saved it up until now because he wanted to make sure he knew the right time. Unfortunately, due to its limited size, he didn't think he would have enough room to fit inside.

However, that didn't necessarily mean this shield would properly protect them all. He could only hope his judgement was correct.

"Watch out!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. A Galactus-tentacle with Lucario's features fired an aura beam from its mouth, a beam large enough to overtake the entire Gustaff. The little ship, and its passengers, was sent spiraling through the air, covered in a thick blanket of smoke, before it finally hit the rubble below. Roy, Kazuya, Shadow, Mewtwo and Snake could only stare on, at a loss. Galactus, his eyes swollen and red like wads of chewing gum, was actually wearing a maniacal smile on his face. The blood dripping from the X-shaped scar on his face only enhanced the look of insanity that was being expressed at that moment. He was just a demon, not the 'God' he claimed himself to be.

"Chris...Raiden..." Snake said to himself.

"Yes...yes...I can see again! Through the help of my little friends," Galactus lightly brushed the side of his knuckle against one of the tentacles on his shoulder, giggling like a little child, "I can still see everything! And I have witnessed Chris Redfield's demise! Ah, it isn't as satisfying as it would have been to tear him limb from limb and twist his head off before I crushed him, but this...it brings a great joy to my heart!"

The alien turned his attention to the remaining fighters down below. He sneered at them. "Hmm...I'd like to kill you all myself, but there are just so many of you. I believe we need to lower the head count."

"What?"

Suddenly, the zombies started to move again. Mewtwo, who had been standing beside the Bowser zombie before, felt the jaws of the lizard king clamp down on his throat. Phoenix Wright jumped onto Snake's back, and he proceeded to stab the older man over and over in the shoulder with a jagged object; it was his broken Attorney's Badge. The rocks on the ground were covered in splashes of red.

Roy tried to save his two friends, but he was cut off by the Ice Climbers. Galactus let out another booming laugh. Kazuya and Shadow were kept in place by the other familiar-faced creatures.

"Now, I'll take my time with you remaining three."


	21. Versus Galactus 4

As Galactus stared down the remaining few that dared oppose him, he remained unaware of others who still sought to bring him down. A few hundred miles away, atop a cliff edge overlooking the area, a young blonde boy in a suit and glasses was observing the fight, a pair of binoculars pressed to his face. He lowered them, and shook his head. When he spoke, he did so with the air of a mature adult, despite probably being no more than 12 or 13 years old.

"Hmm...it looks like things aren't going the way we had hoped; some of them have died already. I think it's time to fire the missile."

"What? Jeff, you're really going to fire it? But...but they're not all dead, right? You'll kill them all!" cried one of a pair of ninja sister twins standing close behind him.

"Kat...Ana...I was told specifically to use this as a last resort, in case things had grown so far out of hand that it could potentially put innocent lives in danger. It would be a noble sacrifice on their part, and we will be thankful for them for everything that they did. It's...it's all we can do. We cannot allow that monster to continue living any longer."

"But, what about the Legendary Pokemon? The Great Fox? We had so many powerful weapons back at the Smash Mansion!"

"Unfortunately, they are gone. The MvC had disabled the Great Fox during their attack on our friends, and the traitor PT had set loose all of the Pokemon under Wesker's orders. It was because we had used a different hanger for the REX and the Dragoon that they avoided being dismantled. Unfortunately, we can't depend on those other things for this battle."

"Ugh...this sucks!"

"Indeed." Jeff nodded, and he began making his way toward the bus-sized missile that had been situated atop a crevice in the cliff, its massive body pointed in the direction of Galactus and the remains of the MvC's headquarters. It was Jeff's greatest piece of work; for years he spent toiling over designing bottle rockets and makeshift explosives to be used in battle as an Assist Trophy, but never before was he ever given the chance to put together a true rocket, a weapon that not even the alien giant could defend itself against. However, Jeff felt no joy, no marveling astonishment while basking in his creation's glow. He had to use it to kill both the enemy and his friends. He would never be able to forgive himself, but he knew he had to do it, as the final request given to him by his deceased comrades.

'Ness...what would you have done? Would you do what I'm about to do?' he thought to himself. Kat and Ana watched, expressions empty, as Jeff pressed the ignition button. The missile was flung through the air like a piece of crumbled paper by the jettison, and a few seconds later the flame began to ignite. It would keep picking up speed until it finally hit Galactus fast enough before he would have time to even step out of the way. It was a special sort of rocket that didn't hold much fuel, nor was it able to hit as far of a distance, but it still packed the same amount of power.

'I'm sorry.'

* * *

"Get...off...of me!"

Snake smashed his elbow into Phoenix Wright's face, knocking him off of his back. Snake gritted his teeth; his shoulder was burning from the pain, and his whole back was doused in his own blood. The zombie Phoenix had hacked away at Snake's shoulder for a few minutes; although Snake had regained consciousness just in time before the wound was whittled down to the bone, it still hurt like a bitch. He could barely keep himself steady on his own two feet anymore, and every part of his body was throbbing. He wouldn't be able to do much else for the rest of this fight. He looked over to Roy, Kazuya and Shadow, who were cornered by the rest of Galactus' revolting creations. Shadow had deactivated his Super form, but Kazuya and Roy were still in fighting poses. Mewtwo was limp, unmoving with his neck held tightly in Bowser's jaws. Snake heard Phoenix rustling behind him, and he took a deep breath. With his wounded arm he took his CQC knife out of his vest.

Phoenix lunged onto the man again, but this time, Snake was prepared. He immediately spun around and stuck the knife deep into the creature's forehead. Phoenix froze on the spot, a dumbfounded look on his face. Snake took this moment to shove a spare grenade into the zombie's throat. Phoenix seemed to accept the 'gift' with good graces. Snake knew he had to roll to safety, but his legs didn't listen. He was sent flying back by the following detonation. As he tumbled to the ground, his shoulder hit a rock, and he knew for sure that he could no longer move. He laid on his back and glared contemptuously at Galactus above.

"Poor Solid Snake...you put so much effort into everything, trying so hard to stop me and my plan. But now look at you! A bloody mess and too injured to move anymore! You're only a human, Snake; you could never have hoped to do much in this battle of super-beings. Well, I suppose you're still better off than Chris Redfield, but not for long!"

However, it seemed that Snake's act of bravery had helped spur on the others too. Roy immediately cut both Marth and the Ice Climbers straight in half, and Kazuya punched Falco's head off. Shadow incinerated what remained of the bodies with a flash of Chaos Blast. Galactus frowned. These ants were far too tenacious for his liking.

Roy finished off Bowser in a single blow, and Kazuya caught Mewtwo's motionless body in his arms. It was clear to both of them; the Pokemon died the instant his throat had been pierced. Roy stared at the blank face of his lost friend, and a painful sadness that made the loss of his arm seem like a paltry wound started to well up inside of him. Mewtwo had been like a brother to him for these past few years; the two of them trained together, grew stronger, learned more about each other than they ever knew as Smashers. They had traveled the whole world together. Roy knew he shouldn't be getting sentimental on the battlefield, but he couldn't help it. He lost the girl he loved since he was a child, he lost Marth and the other Smashers, and now Mewtwo. Roy knew he couldn't let this keep happening. He couldn't keep losing people important to him.

"Roy..." Snake grunted through the pain lacing his body. He tried to say more, but he didn't even know how he could comfort him at all. Galactus did not seem to want to keep them waiting to die much longer.

"I suppose...you can join him now, if you'd like."

Galactus prepared to bury the four survivors underneath his foot, but then he saw it out of the corner of his tentacles' eyes. A large, cylindrical object was flying toward him at a speed that matched a commercial airplane's. Instinctively, despite his eyes having been gouged, he still turned his head in the approaching object's direction. Snake looked too, and he recognized it was the missile. Jeff must have seen them losing, and decided to fire it. Snake knew that it would result in all of them dying here, but it was for the sake of stopping this son of a bitch, and from the get-go he had been willing to die for this if it was absolutely necessary. Snake didn't tell any of the others though. That was the one thing he couldn't do; when Roy, Mewtwo and the Assist Trophies showed up to help them, he didn't know what he could say. He didn't think they would possibly lose. He didn't think things would take such a bad turn.

But now they were all going to lose.

The missile was drawing closer. Kazuya and Shadow were staring at it too, but Roy was still preoccupied with silently mourning Mewtwo's death.

"What...the hell?"

"That's definitely a rocket, if I've ever seen one. Where in the world did it come from? Has the army arrived to fight against Galactus too?"

"It's not very fast, but I don't think we can out-run a missile's explosion, especially considering how injured we all are." Kazuya was taking his oncoming death rather well for what it was.

"Hold on...what the hell is he doing?" Shadow said, regarding Galactus.

Another tentacle was emerging from Galactus' back; it had the head of the PSI boy Ness, a Smasher who had been killed by the MvC. He turned the monstrous, yet innocent-looking face of the horrible appendage so it was facing the missile. The Ness-tentacle opened its mouth, and fired off a beam of greenish-white waves. The waves touched the rocket on its tip, and in an instant, the weapon of mass destruction had been deactivated; it crashed into the forest below it, a dud. Snake, Shadow and Kazuya were speechless.

* * *

Jeff was speechless too.

'Good god,' he thought, staring out of his binoculars, 'He used Ness' PK powers...to destroy the missile from the inside, and leave it without even the power to erupt! How...how can that be? Ness didn't even have any powers like that when he had been alive! These powers...they're ones he's awakening from within them by force!'

"Jeff...I don't see any explosion..." Kat remarked.

Jeff ignored her, and he continued to watch Galactus. Now that the missile plan had been foiled, there was no way that the monstrous alien could be stopped now. His power was growing with every passing minute; it wouldn't be long before he was too strong for any sort of explosive to work against him. This chance when he was still weak and fresh had been their best time to destroy him.

But...what was going to happen now?

* * *

"And now, back to the rest of you. Farewell."

A figure leaped over Snake, and charged to the front lines. Snake's eyes widened; he never thought that guy would finally open his eyes again.

Galactus didn't spare anymore time with conjecture or gloating. He simply raised his boot, and slammed it down on Snake and the others. He expected to hear a scream, a crunch, some sort of pitiful sound signifying their deaths. But he didn't. For a moment, Galactus wondered whether he had actually stepped on them. He was about to raise his foot, and then he realized something. His foot was being held up by only a few feet off of the ground. That was impossible. He quickly removed his foot to inspect what had happened.

There was a man there, standing in front of Kazuya, Shadow, Snake and Roy. A man who had been forced to sit out of the battle for a long time, but no more. He wore a long red over-coat littered with buckles and pockets, and his flowing white hair fell down his back. In a gloved hand, he held his massive blade skyward, with a cocky grin on his lips and a spark in his eyes. Dark energy like flames flickered off of his arms and legs, a hint at how speedily he had came to the rescue. Ragna the Blood-edge had awakened from his long sleep, and he had somehow stopped Galactus' massive sole with only the tip of his sword. Galactus fumed; when will they all finally learn and cease getting in his way like this?

"Tell me something...were you awake this whole time, or did you seriously just wake up right as we were about to get smashed?" Kazuya quipped at the young man's back.

"Eh. Maybe a little of both."

"What?"

"Anyway, I'll help bring this guy down to size. You should all stand back." Ragna swung his sword vertically, and then horizontally, getting a feel for the weapon some more, "I'm going to go all out with this one attack! After that rest, I'm at full strength, even more than usual thanks to that old Akuma geezer!" He raised his sword again, and it became engulfed with black fire. When he had fought Akuma in his wild state, Ragna had almost killed the former MvC Leader before being knocked unconscious. After that had happened, Akuma had placed a piece of his own spiritual energy into Ragna, to temporarily increase his strength ten times beyond its normal limit. Akuma never told Kirby or his apprentice Ryu because he only did it as a failsafe, not meant to be used. But Ragna knew about it the instant he woke up. He was going to use that gift to help them win this battle.

"I won't let you!" Galactus roared, and this time he attempted to bring his wrathful fist down upon the tiny human.

The fire on Ragna's sword swelled higher, and higher, and higher, until it was as tall as Galactus himself. It was like a giant flare lighting the night sky. Galactus could only stare in dumb shock, barely able of comprehending this massive power he was seeing in front of his very eyes, or rather the eyes of his tentacles. He had studied much on Ragna before, and he knew that there was great darkness inside the boy that made him a dangerous threat. But this...it wasn't anything that he could have predicted. Ragna smirked; he had been waiting for this. Galactus' attempt to crush him had only put him in a more vulnerable position.

The young man brought his blade down, and Galactus was knocked to the ground in a single, swift strike.


	22. Versus Galactus 5

Meta-Knight's original speed could easily rival that of Kirby's speediest Warp Stars. However, considering how well it was keeping up with the Dragoon the Legendary Air Machine, then this wretched clone of Kirby's dead friend was moving even faster than that. Its blood-red wings only flapped once or twice as it sped through winds sharp enough to cut flesh. Kirby swung his sword, witnessing the steel banging against the Meta-Knight's own blade. Again and again their weapons connected, neither giving in an inch. Kirby peered over the Dragoon, and saw they were over a city now. He didn't have much time left. He needed to stop this guy quickly, before the entire plan was put to ruin.

Kirby switched out to Pit's powers, and began pelting the zombie with an array of energy-laced arrows. The arrows tore through the wings' membrane with ease, and one of them became embedded into the Meta-Knight's mask, causing a wad of purple-colored goop to drip out of the wound. However, this did not deter it. Meta-Knight's wings simply grew larger, wider, barely resembling anything like its original appearance anymore. Meta-Knight's hands split, twisted and contorted in shape and size; they jutted far in front of him like a pair of menacing talons, complete with huge claws. Kirby gulped. This creature...it wasn't just Meta-Knight inside of it.

With a beastly roar, the mutating monstrosity charged again. It had become stronger, and it was knocking away the assaulting projectiles with just a slap of its left wing. Kirby switched out for Fox McCloud's power, hoping that laser blasts would prove to be more effective. Meta-Knight swerved over the first beam, under the second one, and destroyed the third shot with its hand. Things weren't looking good; it was growing stronger. Suddenly, the crack on Meta-Knight's mask began to grow wider, and more of the sludge from before was flowing out of it. This time, however, it was taking shape into something. It was becoming a neck, which lead up to a head, and then finally a face, with piercing yellow eyes and a mouth filled with teeth as fine as needles. A tail had also sprouted, a long, spiny tail with a jagged curve on its end.

This definitely wasn't Meta-Knight anymore. Instead, it now resembled a beast that had once been a deadly enemy of one of Kirby's fellow Smashers. Ridley, the alien dragon born from the deepest depths of space itself. It seemed that Wesker had killed him at some point, and used his corpse in the creation of his 'servants'. Ridley would be much harder to defeat than Meta-Knight. Unlike Meta-Knight, whom Kirby had battled many times both in and out of the Smash arena, Ridley was not something he was accustomed to dealing with. He knew nothing on how to fight it, or what it acted like. All he knew was from what Samus had told him; it was violent, sadistic, and could shoot fire from its mouth. Nothing good, unfortunately.

Ridley unleashed a screech almost strong enough to burst eardrums. Kirby knew he had no time to fight this guy, and his attacks didn't seem to be working on him anymore. At this point, all he could do was protect himself. He needed to wait until the right moment, once Galactus was in view, and hopefully this plan went exactly like he had devised it would. It was unfortunate that it all depended on a lot of luck, but really, it was the only thing they could rely on at this point. Kirby hoped that Snake, Kazuya, Ragna and the rest were still alright.

Ridley screamed again, and white-hot flames erupted from its throat. Kirby tilted the Dragoon on its side, and flipped over the fire. He looked again, and saw Galactus in the distance. Kirby looked at the Dragoon; it was at its maximum speed, having to cross around the entire world at least once to reach such a speed and keep it constant. Kirby hoped that this worked. He let go and he found himself falling in the air. The Dragoon was still rushing toward its final destination, Ridley hot on the machine's heels.

* * *

"Gaaah!" It was an aching, drowning sound.

Galactus hit the ground with tremendous force, Ragna's black energy pouring over him; his bones were protected from any sort of damage due to his armor, but his face had been fully destroyed beyond any repair. The skin was charred, melted, like it was covered in a thick layer of soot. His tongue had blown apart, his lips shredded, the very interior of his mouth was a bleeding, fuming mess all the way down his throat. Blackish-red blood was pouring out of the gashes on his cheeks and forehead. It was painful, so painful, it was a disfiguring that would leave her looking more like a monster than a God. Albert Wesker, whose body resided inside the core of Galactus, suffered this same pain, for their very psyches were connected as one. However, what he felt even more than pain was the rage and humiliation from all of these injuries. For now, as he struggled to right himself, he would need to summon more slaves to fight on his behalf.

Ragna fell to his knees in exhaustion, and the others rushed to his aid. "What did you just do?" Shadow exclaimed.

"I...I used just about everything I had, and then some, in one burst," Ragna explained, trying to steady himself with his giant blade, "It shouldn't be too hard to stop him now! We need to put all of our effort into it!"

"Hold on, there are still the injured! We can't just leave them laying around here!" Roy pointed out, ignoring the fact that he was more injured than most, what with only one arm and all.

"Worry about that AFTER the giant, murderous alien is dead and gone, okay?"

"I don't know..."

"We don't have time!" The snow-haired young man immediately regained his footing. "Let's kick this bastard's ass for good!"

"Wait, didn't you say you used up your strength?"

"I can still do some more. No way am I sitting out again!"

Kazuya, Ragna and Shadow began stampeding toward the fallen Galactus. Roy, however, held back. He looked over his shoulder, at the wounded Snake and the corpse of his friend Mewtwo. He knew that, if they had been able to speak to him right now, they would tell him to go on and fight without worry. Roy turned his gaze to the stump that had once been his other arm. He may have to fight one-handed for now, but after this, there might be a chance for some kind of recovery. After all, they lived in a world that seemed to do nothing but defy expectations.

He forced a smile. He couldn't keep getting depressed like this; Mewtwo would have called him out on it.

"Okay...but I want to get first dibs on this bastard!"

Unfortunately, they did not get very far, as a pair of large beings suddenly confronted them. It was the Dark Beast Ganon and Giga Bowser, powerful forms of Ganondorf and Bowser that they had only been able to obtain through the use of a Smash Ball. Although these transformation temporarily stripped them of sanity, the two villains were granted an immense amount of power. And, with these zombified versions of them under Galactus' control, that only meant much bigger trouble. However, the remaining heroes weren't going to be deterred. Before, they had held back some, just in case they needed the extra power and stamina to fight Galactus. This was their only chance to end this; they couldn't waste any more time being cautious.

Ragna attacked first. His sword slammed against Ganon's tusks, but they failed to shatter the front teeth. In fact, that was what Ragna wanted; it kept the giant hog from escaping. Kazuya, having returned to his demonic other-form, came flying over Ragna's back, and he punched Ganon in the face with his blazing fist. That single hit alone was strong enough to completely destroy Ganon, who exploded into harmless sludge.

Giga Bowser was the one who confronted Roy and Shadow. Roy gave Shadow an affirmative nod, and the hedgehog, immediately going Super, placed his hand upon the boy's blade. His sword became engulfed in the energy of chaos, which increased its powers by ten-fold. Giga Bowser reared back its clawed hand as it prepared to crush the two of them. Roy and Shadow struck the reptilian beast at the same time, and Giga Bowser split in half before he could so much as touch them.

Ragna, Kazuya, Shadow and Roy hurried along, little to spare. They were making their way across Galactus' torso, and they would soon arrive at his head, where they could finish him once and for all. The giant was beginning to stir; the agony of his ruined face had left him temporarily paralyzed. Soon, he would regain his bearings. Roy's blade was covered in flames, Shadow held a Chaos Spear in his hand, Kazuya's fists were clenched tight, and Ragna had his massive sword held high. Only rarely before had any of them experienced such a rush of adrenaline as this. Galactus' face was close. They could do this. They knew they could. And finally, the moment had come. They jumped into the air.

"Now!"

They attacked all at once...but were slapped away in an instant.

Galactus would have screamed obscenities at them if he could, but he could no longer speak anymore. He shakily pushed himself up, and started getting back onto his feet. It was near-impossible breathing, but what few tentacles he had left on his back were doing the breathing for him. They were the only reason he still kept himself together; without any eyes, ears or nose left, they were the ones who enacted his senses. The worms who had just attempted to take his life were strewn about on the ground, unmoving, bruised and beaten so easily it was pathetic. They had let their little 'victory' get to their heads. It put them in the way of danger, and like fools, they took it on without heeding safety. They had underestimated the power of Galactus. Truly stupid.

Galactus stood fully on his feet with some uneasiness. He felt like he had forgotten something. These were not the only ones. There had been others who tried to assault his glorious visage. The pink one. That strange, ugly, irritating little creature who was apparently just a face with hands and feet. Kirby. That was his name.

'Where...did he go, anyway?'

Suddenly, Kirby's Dragoon machine came flying in behind him, and it ripped through Galactus' back as if it was a sheet of paper. A few seconds later, Ridley followed, but he crashed and burned immediately. When the Dragoon exploded out of the alien's chest, it wasn't alone. It was carrying Wesker along with it. Kirby had planned it exactly for the Dragoon to take the maniacal madman along with it. Galactus was near-invincible, but he was like a building on a poor foundation; if just one piece happened to be removed, the entire structure would come crumbling down. Galactus, now a corpse once more, simply stood in place.

The damaged Air Machine sputtered its last few breaths before exploding in a marvelous finale, filling the night sky with a flash of beautiful white heat. The only one still conscious enough to witness this display was Kirby himself. Albert Wesker was incinerated, and his grand scheme of world domination had been brought to an end.

Landing safely on the ground, the pink puffball hurried to the aid of his friends, hoping that he could use the powers of his deceased comrades to care for the wounded.


	23. The End

Several days had passed since the defeat of Albert Wesker and the entire MvC itself. Repair to the city was constant but slow, and it would be some time before anything could make up for the dramatic loss of civilian life that dreadful night. The imposing form of Galactus' steadily composing body could be seen for miles away; the government was left unsure what to do with it.

A mass funeral was held for the deceased of both sides, attended by Kirby and the other survivors. There were too many bodies to bury all at once, so they had no choice but to have them cremated one at a time. It was a long, dreary process. Kirby watched it all with his own eyes. According to Wesker's own admittance and the data found in his laboratory, he had corrupted the members of the MvC purposely for his own gains. That meant that the many super-beings and humans Kirby had killed were nothing but innocents being manipulated by a mad genius. Innocents that he had cruelly stripped of their lives. Kirby felt sick just thinking about it.

After all, now that his initial rage and desire for revenge were gone, he realized that he was almost no better than Wesker. A violent, senseless killer. It wasn't a good feeling. He didn't know if he could ever forgive himself for this. And now, with the Smashers officially dissolved, he would have to find something new to do with his life.

Kirby stood alone outside of the funeral house, staring far off, at the distant silhouette of the giant alien. He really didn't know what to do with himself anymore. The battle was over. He had won. He was a hero who saved the world, and yet he felt like anything but. The cremations were over, and the prayers had been done. There was no reason to stay here any longer. Kirby raised his hand, preparing to summon his Warp Star to his side.

"Hey, Kirby, you're leaving already?"

He looked around to see Snake, Raiden, Roy, Pichu and Chris Redfield approaching him. They were all dressed in formal attire, appropriate for this somber event. Chris's arm was in a sling, and Snake was nearly covered from head to toe in bandages. He shouldn't even be out of the hospital right now, considering the many injuries he suffered in the last battle, but the older man had been able to get 'special' permission to leave his bed for just this one day. Roy's arm was still missing, but if things worked out, he would be able to get a replacement soon from an old friend. Raiden's left eye was missing and he walked with an uneven gait. Pichu, however, seemed no worse for wear.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you," Snake shrugged, "We're not going to hang around, either. Or at least I'd like to leave, but those damn doctors won't stop bugging me about 'bed-rest' and a bunch of bull like that. I'm fine...really." he grumbled the last part under his breath.

"Kirby...Raiden, Otacon and I are going to try and find Maya Fey, for Phoenix's last wish. You can join us, if you'd like." Chris offered.

Kirby shook his head; he didn't mean to turn down a rescue, but he needed to be alone for a while. He needed to think things over.

"Ah, it's okay, I understand. We all have things we need to do now. Too much to do, too little time."

"By the way, that reminds me, Otacon told me this morning that he might be able to repair R.O.B.." Snake suddenly remarked.

"What? Really?"

"I don't know too much about machines, but Otacon does, and he said that he might be able to bring him back. It looks like the Smashers aren't totally gone for good yet, huh?" he grinned triumphantly at the others. Waluigi and Shadow were starting to walk outside now.

"That's great news!"

As his friends continued to converse amongst themselves, Kirby started to walk away. Pichu was about to follow him, but Snake held him back, as he knew the warrior needed to be beside himself.

Kirby had the chance to finally calm down, think about everything that happened, and it scared the hell out of him. So many of his friends were dead. So many of the MvC members were murdered because he wanted revenge. Revenge that only ended up causing more pain and suffering for everyone. Kirby was the one who started the whole chain of events; Snake had shown up just to help, but of course, he had to fight in self-defense. The same went for everyone else, and although the scenario changed when Wesker revealed his true intentions, it still held true that Kirby had acted untrue to his beliefs. He was supposed to be a savior, not a destroyer. He had become evil in his despair over great loss. Maybe, if he returned to Pop-Star, and healed himself, he could ease this great aching in his heart. He couldn't keep moping like this forever.

Suddenly, Kirby felt an icy chill, and several figures appeared before him out of the darkness itself. His eyes grew wide.

It was a blonde woman in a black corset and jeans, wielding a gigantic red scythe. She was accompanied by three that Kirby had recognized from the start of his attack on MvC; Nova, Deadpool, and Amaterasu. The blonde appeared to be acting as their 'leader' of sorts.

"There he is, the little turd that ate all of my churros!" Deadpool proclaimed as he took a pistol out of one of his many pouches.

The super man named Nova nodded his head. "Yes...the one who attacked us, and murdered so many of us..."

"So, then we found him," the blonde remarked with just a hint of malice, swinging her massive weapon through the air, "He is Dante's killer."

Amaterasu barked noisily in disapproval. The other three began charging without another pause.

Kirby grimaced; he couldn't believe what was happening. It was true that not all of the MvC's bodies could be recovered, but he hadn't expected that some had survived, or escaped. Even worse, they were gunning specifically for him. However, Kirby realized a moment later, this should have been expected. It was karma; he deserved to have all of this hatred aimed toward him. But that didn't mean he was going to give up his own life. That would be the ultimate shame, the ultimate failure.

As much as he wanted to repent for his sins, he knew, for all intents and purposes, that dying would solve nothing. The other Smashers would never have allowed it; they would be disappointed in him. Kirby had to live for the sake of everyone who had fallen that day. It was his new duty. The duty to suffer through this cycle of revenge, and to live, to prosper, and to never forget.

Kirby summoned the blade of his friend Link as he prepared himself for the oncoming attack. The fighting would continue as long as things remained the way they were. Maybe, one day, it could change. Hopefully, for the better.


End file.
